Advocates say the Moorabool River in Victoria's west is facing a deepening crisis, with a reported 218 new private dams appearing in the catchment since 2012.
"Victoria needs something like a natural resources access regulator, to ensure that they can look other states in the eye when they sit around the table at ministerial council meetings over the Murray Darling Basin and say, yes, we know we are doing the right thing," he said.
"But … the river is slowly being choked … farm dams, especially after a few dry years, will get the first drink of any water that flows into the catchment." A big part of the problem, she said, was that Victoria's water laws had loopholes that failed to protect waterways from the cumulative effect of dams.
"They haven't done one of those in years. They have a stick and the law gives them a stick and they're not using it.Peter Stray's farm in She Oaks, north-west of Geelong, lies 600 metres from the Moorabool River."If somebody wanted water, they dug a dam, and there was no control over what dams were dug across the whole catchment," Mr Stray said.
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