The federal government says the River Murray's water recovery journey is well underway claiming more than half of its water target is on track to flood back into the expansive basin. But as gigalitres flow back into SA waterways, residents of the Fleurieu Peninsula are still feeling the effects of a severe dry spell.
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00:00Liquid gold, bought by the government, from water holders along the Murray-Darling Basin.
00:07The target? 450 gigalitres, flooded back into the River Murray by 2027.
00:13The federal government says it's confirmed 130 gigalitres already, about half of that
00:19through buybacks, and it's on track to secure 150.
00:23It's vital for South Australia's cities and towns, it's vital for South Australia's agriculture
00:28and industry, and of course it's vital for the environment.
00:32But the Coalition's water spokesperson says the minister is overstating how much has been
00:37secured for the basin, while the Greens say any water for the Murray is welcome.
00:42As we get into a more drier period, as climate change starts hitting, we're going to need
00:47that even more.
00:48A dry period which has already taken a toll in the Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu Peninsula
00:53regions.
00:54Rain isn't forecast to arrive for months, and tanks and dams are close to empty.
00:59There's three families that I know of down there, their kids aren't going to school because
01:03of this situation.
01:04They can't have a shower, they can't wash their clothes.
01:07Yankalilla's mayor says 80% of properties in his council aren't connected to mains water,
01:13creating an overwhelming demand for water delivered by truck.
01:17What seems to have happened is that all at once people have realised that they're getting
01:20a bit low, they've phoned the water carters and they've created, inadvertently, a bottleneck
01:26where there's weights being listed even up to two months.
01:28If the minister gave me a tanker, we could get water down to the people in need.
01:34A state government spokesperson says it's working to get more water carting deliveries
01:39into the area by supporting potential new carters, to help hydrate a thirsty region.