RIVER MURRAY TURNS SALT

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 109, 9 May 1923, Page 6

RIVER MURRAY TURNS SALT

FISH AND LOBSTERS DYING.

(FKOU ODE OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

SYDNEY, 2nd May. The prolonged drought is having the alarming effect of enormously increasing the salt content of the water in the Murray River in tho valuable irrigation areas right up above Eenmark, near the junction of the three States of South Australia, Victoria, and New South Wales. Even in 1914 when the river fell in about the same low level as it is now, the salinity was never so high, and it is feared that it is becoming more a danger than a help to the orchardists. The famous Murray cod and lobsters are being severely affected, the cod having become thin and almost lifeless while the lobsters are crawling out of the salt water and dying by hundreds. The Irrigation Trust officials are advising growers not to irrigate their blocks, or, if they take the risk, to be very sparing with water. Tests taken reveal that the stream holds 66 grains salt to the gallon. The position has created alarm, particularly among citrus growers, who are faced with the alternative of going without water, and probably losing portion of their orange crop, or elso of taking the water at the risk of ruining the trees. It had been hoped that the 50,----000 acre feet of water released from the Lake Victoria storage basin would have wade the irrigation position secure for all the settlements; but beyond freshening the stream for a few days it has been of little benefit. The river is very low, and although a small sheet of water is still coming down from the lake it is not sufficient to hold up the stream, and more water is running out than is coming down. The pumps at Eenmark are still operating, but are finding it difficult to raise the water owing to the shallowness of the river. The growers depend on the irrigation water for domestic OJld Stock sunnli—