Teacher Preparation

Introduction

The Murray Darling Basin is commonly called the Australian bread basket and its catchment covers four States. Water allocation is the major controversial issue in this region. The water from the Murray Darling system is used for irrigation and as a water supply for the many towns in the region. The region’s economy is very dependent on agriculture and one of the major growth industries is tourism.

There are many overlapping issues about the Murray River water as a resource including:

The large river's red gum forests depend on flooding every few years.
There is a greater demand for water for agriculture than what can possibly be met.
Farmers own water rights so farmers without water ownership can’t access water unless they buy someone else’s allocation.
South Australia is at the end of the Murray and its vast freshwater habitats, such as the Coorong, are extremely dependent on the Murray River water.

Much of what people read and hear in the media is opinion. Is it possible for students to be able to find and understand the evidence and draw some valid conclusions about the best way to manage the water resources for this region?

Activity outline

Part 1:

Using the internet, students have three minutes to find the outline of the Murray Darling Basin and what the main industry in the region is.

Facilitate a class discussion that allows students to report their findings back to the class.

Part 2:

Provide students with the following question:

"Murray-Darling Basin - Bread basket or basket case?"

Ask students to address the question about the Murray Darling Basin in relation to its potential future.

Students should summarise the broad issues such as:

The environmental impact of removing too much water
The water needs for agriculture
Water allocation is based on ownership of water rites
South Australia’s and the Coorong’s special needs
The health of the river system being essential for tourism and regional towns
Sustainable red gum forestry needing regular floods
Students may wish to add further issues.

Part 3:

Students look at various opinions and available information to draw conclusions about the potential future of the Murray Darling Basin. Students use this information to write a one page report and form a conclusion about the future of the Murray Darling Basin. Conclusions that students may form include, but are not limited to the following:

It is possible to develop a management plan which can protect the environment and meet the current agricultural and rural town needs.
If the environment is protected properly, agriculture will be negatively affected.
If the agricultural needs are met then the environment will be affected.
It isn’t possible to separate opinion from evidence, so no conclusion can be drawn.

Students should be given 30 minutes to source information while doing their research. A further 30 minutes should be given to students to write a one page typed (two pages hand written) report.

Useful websites for students to start their research include:

The Murray Darling Basin Authority www.mdba.gov.au

The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources https://agriculture.gov.au/water

Closing activities

Students discuss how they went about their research and if they had any problems. Who provided the most valuable websites? Which websites only had opinions with no supporting evidence?

Did the research help students develop their own opinion?

How many students believed that the Murray Darling Basin:

Will not become a basket case.
Will eventually become a basket case.
It was not possible to answer the question in the time allotted.

Murray Darling Basin - Food basket or basket case?

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