Life flows back into the Coorong and Lower Lakes (Murray River flowing into the sea again)

[depakid]

An aerial view of the Choke (north and south lagoon) of the Coorong.
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THE long wait is almost over at the mouth of Australia's greatest river. A decade after it last spilt into the sea, the Murray River will reconnect with the Southern Ocean in a matter of days, creating an extraordinary and improbable backdrop for one the most important weeks in the river's history.

A new distribution of Murray-Darling waters will be proposed in Canberra on Friday, determining the amount of water that will be taken out of farmers' hands and given to the environment.

Farmers in regions like the Goulburn, Murray and Murrumbidgee are tipped to be hardest hit under the new plan, which is designed to make environmental triumphs like next week's spill occur more often. The Murray's famous Lower Lakes - surviving on environmental ''death row'' last year - have swollen close to 150 centimetres higher than the nadir of 2009, thanks mostly to summer downpours in northern Australia and the September floods in Victoria.

The Murray-Darling Basin is having its fourth wettest year (to date) on record, the Bureau of Meteorology said yesterday. More water is still moving down the river, and reconnection to the sea could, serendipitously, coincide with the release of the draft basin plan next Friday. But as the sense of theatre threatens to swell higher than the Lakes themselves, the scientists most acquainted with the Lower Lakes and Coorong are not getting carried away.

They warn that this year's filling of the Lakes - a wonderful boost for the prized ecosystem - will not necessarily reverse the damage caused by years of severe drought. CSIRO expert Dr Rob Fitzpatrick says the patches of bare lake bed that famously turned acidic through exposure to the air are still lurking, despite the recent inflows.

''While the water is over the top, the soils underneath are still acid and we've got evidence of that,'' he said. Some patches of the lake bed had acidity levels equal to battery acid, and Dr Fitzpatrick said it was clear that acid sulphate soils would retain their potency for a minimum of nine to 12 months under water.

''We've embarked on a long-term investigation to discover how long it would take for the soils to get back to what they were previously, but I have to tell you, we don't know,'' he said.

More: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/life-flows-back-into-the-coorong-and-lower-lakes-20101001-16149.html

[Dead_Parrot]

1. Fuck yeah.

No chance of doing that with the Mississippi, I guess?

[whoneedstickets]

2. Its the Colorado that could really use it

stories of the unspoiled Colorado delta's diversity are amazing. Jungle cats.