FUTURE works to secure Lake Albert's future have been largely ignored in the latest draft of the Murray Darling Basin Plan.
The lake is at the mercy of the South Australian Government's resolve to ensure it remains a freshwater source.
Despite becoming the most saline body of water used by farmers in the system - remaining well above potable levels even during the current period of high flow - this hardly rates a mention in the Proposed Basin Plan - a revised draft.
Instead, a new MDB Authority salt monitoring station has been promised for Milang on adjacent Lake Alexandrina - where a SA monitoring station already exists. The station will measure the success of the authority's new target to keep salt levels in the lake at 1000EC units at least 95 per cent of the time.
Monitoring stations will also be installed to assess new targets of 833EC for 95pc of the time at Murray Bridge, Morgan and the Darling River downstream of Menindee Lakes at Burtundy and of 517EC at Lock 6 at Murtho.
"These targets, in conjunction with the adoption of targets to inform water resource planning, and increased flows arising from the adoption of the Sustainable Diversion Limits, will collectively result in improved water quality and salinity outcomes for the whole basin, and consequently, for the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth," the authority stated in its consultation report, released on Monday.
A MDBA spokesperson said Lake Alexandrina's target of 1000EC would provide for the management of salinity in both lakes.
She said Milang was chosen because there was a historical monitoring record for the site and it was not influenced by short-term salinity fluctuations created by barrage operations.
But Meningie Narrung Lakes Irrigators Association chairman Bill Henshall said a salinity reading at Milang would be useless for Lake Albert.
"A reading of 1000EC at Milang would mean Lake Alexandrina was reasonable," he said.
"But Lake Alex is at about 400EC right now and we're still up to about 4000EC on Lake Albert.
"The monitor at Milang tells you absolutely nothing about Lake Albert."
There are currently about six SA Government monitoring stations on Lake Alexandrina and three on Lake Albert - all readily accessible with real time information online.
"They are a necessity for us on the lakes as a management tool because you don't want to be feeding foul water to your stock," Mr Henshall said.
"But it appears that none of them are going to be used. There is nothing in the plan to address salinity in Lake Albert, and as far as I can find out, it really doesn't exist in the plan."
The MDBA spokesperson said the authority was aware the monitoring stations were used by farmers and they would not be replaced by its own station at Milang.
MNLIA submitted a five-point plan to the authority to address the lake's salinity issues, which included dredging the Narrung Narrows, removing the ferry causeway, and undertaking a feasibility study into a pipeline connecting the lake with the Coorong.
But the authority said these actions did not lay within the scope of the plan and instead encouraged the State Government to consider the actions.
This gave little confidence to the region's farmers, who have been calling on the government to dredge the narrows since the Narrung Bund's removal early last year resulted in an estimated 25 per cent of introduced material being lost into the channel.
Silt also remained in the channel as a result of water being pumped over the bund from Lake Alexandrina during the drought and a subsequent build-up of reed banks and sediment is restricting water exchange and the export of salt from Lake Albert.
A spokesperson for State Water Minister Paul Caica said Federal funding for stage two of the bund's full decommission had been released following approval of eight different management considerations.
*Full report in Stock Journal, May 31 issue, 2012.
