After reading this I was all fired up and ready to write a letter to the editor in response to the article, along the lines that a 50,000 megalitre capacity was a joke and wouldn't be worthwhile picking up a shovel for.

Wednesday's edition of The Area News runs a similar front page article and notes the capacity of the project as being 500,000 megalitres, which is much closer to the mark and would make it a worthwhile project.

At 500,000 megalitres capacity, Lake Coolah would have almost half the capacity of Burrinjuck (accessible capacity said to be 1,023,000+ megalitres) and would go a long way toward securing additional water for the MIA well into the future.

Therefore, I assume the 50,000 megalitres quoted in The Irrigator was a "typo".

If it isn't a "typo", get ready for a barrage of responses from local irrigators who have been waiting for a "project" of this nature to go ahead for decades.

An article in the Narrandera Argus a few years back stated that initial costings for the project came in at $80m, but were revised down to $20m.

Even at $80m (and I do not know what would actually be achieved with this much money, ie a 'claytons' half-done project, or a fully completed and functional irrigation supply system), this is a small price to pay for the future of the MIA.

Thirty-plus years of talking about this enough.

We need action now, before the next 10 year drought arrives, which, by the way, is on its way.

Andrew Makeham

Leeton

-Editor's note: Although the original figure mentioned at Leeton Shire Council's April meeting and reported in a story in May was 50,000 megalitres, it is correct that the capacity of Lake Coolah would be 500,000ML.