Catastrophe at Coorong reaches point of no return

IT'S an appalling irony that the five-year Living Murray agreement between the states and the Commonwealth to rescue six "icon" sites expired last month just as one of the sites, the Coorong near Adelaide, is dying. Gone is the abundance of birds, fish and other wildlife that earned the system of lakes and lagoons national park status and a listing under the Ramsar convention as a wetland of international significance. The unique meeting of waters — seawater and river water, rainfall and groundwater, which meant so much to the area's original inhabitants, is a thing of the past.
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