Irrigators should not be seen as enemies of Dubbo, says Little Big Dairy Co's Stephen Chesworth.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Chesworth was among the speakers to address Dubbo Regional Council at the recent meeting. He was calling on council and the community to be careful of the langue they use.
As the water in Burrendong Dam continues to decrease Dubbo Regional Council is looking to increase its groundwater extraction.
ALSO MAKING NEWS:
Council CEO Michael McMahon said the city had been taking "well below its entitlement" of groundwater in the Upper Macquarie alluvial aquifer.
"This supply is significantly over allocated and current usage is in excess of the extraction limit for this supply," Mr McMahon said earlier in the month.
But Mr Chesworth said one section of the water users should not be "demonised".
"I would love to see Dubbo council using language around our bore water irrigators on what a critical part we play within council," he said.
Mr Chesworth said council should be saying how proud it was of the successful businesses that had bloomed because of the groundwater irrigators.
"I hate to think that we become an enemy to the city. I believe the story should be that...the city is here because of agriculture," he said.
Peter Schuster from the Upper Macquarie Groundwater Group raised similar concerns.
"We are not the villains here. We are regulated and we are responsible water uses," Mr Schuster said.
He said irrigators were supporting jobs for people in Dubbo that would have otherwise "fallen by the wayside" in the face of this "unrelenting drought".
"Irrigation is the only thing that's allowing us to continue to support local farm supply businesses as well as local transport companies, local contractors, mechanics and many more," he said.
"We need to be, and are, efficient water uses.
"We employ the latest and most efficient forms of water delivery technology. We monitor soil moisture to ensure we only apply water when and where it is required and we use satellite and drone technology to monitor pant response."
Mr Schuster said times were tough. He's a family irrigator on the Macquarie groundwater source.
"We're on 3200 hectares but relying on 52 hectares of irrigation. This is all that is keeping us going," Mr Schuster said.
He asked for the unfair comments against irrigators to end.
"There have been comments made in the media and on social media that pit the Dubbo community against ground water irrigators. This is not fair... We ask for these comments to stop," Mr Schuster said.