Where's Wally?

If you think Wally here was hard to find, spare a thought for Clarence Valley residents who are now busily looking for the estimated 3.7 to 5 million megalitres of water which the Coalition water raiders assert is discharged annually into the ocean from the Clarence River.

If the volume was consistently that high one might think that the Clarence River estuary would not be regarded as moderately to highly infilled, with depths across the entrance a maximum of 5 metres below low water [Dept. of Land and Water Conservation,2000].

Or that the cargo boats taking out Clarence Valley timber would not, as in recent years, get stuck on the sand buildup at the entrance approach and commercial trawlers on the river would still be able to fish areas available to them just a generation ago but not navigable now.

The high flow volume cited by these raiders would surely mean deep, free-flowing channels throughout the estuary.

However, the variable nature of Clarence River system flow does not lend itself to statistical annual averages and such averages are not in actual evidence on the river - but that fact seems to have escaped Messrs. Howard and Turnbull.

But then, neither gentleman has bothered to visit the Clarence Valley and ask local residents and local government about the practical experience of living with a classic Australian variable river.

[Graphic displayed at wickipedia.org,7 July 2007]