LEETON mayor Paul Maytom believes the future of the shire is being threatened by what he says is a corrupt water trading system.
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Councillor Maytom believes the communities such as Leeton are under threat with huge amounts of water being sold out of the MIA.
He said he wants to make it clear he doesn't blame farmers for selling their water, but said the system needs to change and some sort of cap needs to be imposed.
Leeton is not going to stand by and watch the MIA be systematically unraveled.
- Leeton shire mayor Paul Maytom
Since July, around 40 gigalitres of water has been sold from this area. Cr Maytom believes the state and federal governments need to step in and overhaul water trading regulations, renewable energy policies land use planning policies and even right-to-farm policies in order to get the issue sorted.
"Let me be clear ... losing 40 gigalitres of water out of the MIA (since July) to new greenfield nut farms downstream is not okay," Cr Maytom said.
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"Having commodity speculators with no interest in farming manipulates our water market.
"It is not okay when farmers find it more attractive to sell their water than to plant a crop.
"When these things happen, something has gone terribly wrong and we need to put it right quickly."
The mayor's notion is one Member for Murray Helen Dalton agrees with.
She's angered those buying up big chunks of water don't need to prove they have any link to farming and has called on residents to sign the Speak Up 4 Water campaign's petition for a royal commission into water management and a national water register to be established.
Cr Maytom said poor policy was impacting the future of communities like Leeton shire and he would not stand by and watch that happen.
With the MIA purpose built to grow crops and feed the nation, he said the time now was for the government to act.
"Leeton is not going to stand by and watch the MIA be systematically unraveled," he said.
"Our system does not function on the basis that all water should go to the highest value crop, so public policy that drives this is fundamentally flawed.
"Diversity is our strength and we have developed an integrated system that harnesses every opportunity in the good water years and provides resilience in low allocation years.
"If Australia is genuinely committed to making every drop of irrigation water count, government policy needs to support the MIA and formed irrigation areas like ours to stay resilient in good water years and bad."
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