SAMI representatives met with Federal Water Minister Penny Wong on Wednesday to encourage her to take urgent action on water reform.

SAMI president Tim Whetstone had some main points he wanted Ms Wong to hear.

“It is becoming increasingly clear to us that without national control true water reform within the basin is not a realistic goal and South Australia is going to be the most disadvantaged,” Mr Whetstone said.

Mr Whetstone said the Government could not make water reform a gradual process because communities, especially those around the Lower Lakes, were already suffering from inaction.

“We are being told that reform must be gradual and not influenced by the drought, but this ignores the mounting evidence that we are facing an economic and environmental disaster right along the river,” he said.

“Ask the people of the Lower Lakes whether they can wait 10 years for reform.”

Besides total Federal Government control of the river system, Mr Whetstone also suggested speeding up the rehabilitation process, introducing enforceable penalties for states breaching their water caps, basin-wide extraction meters and the establishment of a national water register.