Farmer high and dry

By Tania Martin
A SILVAN berry farmer has pleaded for help following a ban on irrigating from the Woori Yallock Creek.
Victorian Strawberry Field’s Nina Corrone said the ban would ruin her family farm.
She said these latest restrictions were heart-breaking.
Mrs Corrone said she understood there was a need to save water in these times of drought but questioned why a total ban was needed.
“Not even households have a total ban,” she said. Mrs Corrone said previously there had only been restrictions, not a blanket ban.
She said this was the first time a total ban had been placed on irrigating from the creek.
But Melbourne Water spokesman Nicolas McGay defended the move saying each major river and creek had environmental flow triggers that needed to be met before water could be taken by irrigators.
He said the bans followed the flows falling below the trigger points.
Mr McGay said total bans were now in place across the Woori Yallock, Hoddles, Olinda, Stringybark, and Wandin Yallock creeks. “These bans affect more than 800 licence holders who rely on water from these streams to irrigate crops over a range of horticultural industries,” he said.
Mrs Corrone said it was frustrating that farmers who regularly put water back into the creek had been banned from using water.
“One week without water is all it will take to ruin us … it will kill us,” she said.
Eastern Victoria MP Edward O’Donohue has questioned the reasoning behind the ban.
He said although he understood the situation with water consumption was at a dire level, the blanket ban for irrigators was also putting farms at risk and threatening millions of dollars worth of food production in the region.
But Mr McGay said Melbourne Water had been in talks with irrigators for the past five years and had advised them to plan in advance to cope with the continuing dry conditions.
“We don’t apply these bans lightly but unfortunately they are unavoidable given the drought circumstances and the need to protect the environment,” he said.
The Mail contacted the State Government, which declined to comment.