We have met most fortnights on Monday evening at the Milang Old School House Community Centre.

Paul Davis has provided the drive needed to guide us to membership of Waterkeepers Australia. See the Waterkeepers website and you will get a feel for the benefits that can flow from our membership. It is all about Stewardship and Protection of our most precious resource: Water.

The Committee sought to identify the Water Policies of the candidates standing for the recent Federal Election.
An enormous amount of work by the group led by Chris Bagley, resulted in a survey being mailed to candidates. The results were tabulated and presented to the print media.
A huge range of variance in policy was noted …… some thought there is no over allocation of the water resource while others understood the need for urgent action.

Some Members attended the Regional Science Forum at the National Wine Centre 29/11/07

Life on the Lakes was the theme of an event held on Federal Election day at the Milang Foreshore.
Volunteers for the RLCAG and WATERKEEPERS assembled an informative display for the public.
The model of the proposed Pomanda Island Weir was on display. Access to several lap top screens enabled the viewing of the DVD of the weir.
Photographic material from around the lakes shore was also shown, revealing the region's natural beauty. Well worth fighting to preserve!
A trailer boat was used as visual attractant to the display site and many people called in and became aware of the efforts put in by our group to prevent the weir from being built.
Letters to the Premier, asking that a weir not be built, were signed by many and later delivered to his office.

There have been some inaccurate articles in the media regarding the Lakes and Coorong. Working with funds from the Irrigators Association at Langhorne Creek, the Committee decided to enlist the services of a professional journalist to respond.
Using Henry Jones' expertise, an excellent article appeared in print to enable readers to see a more balanced view of the situation faced by us at the end of the system.

RLCAG has been in discussion with the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO), an organization that seeks to help prevent unlawful damage occurring to the environment. It is run by environmentally interested professional people in the Legal system.
An example of their work is the recent hearing regarding the red dust issue in Whyalla.
They are interested in offering assistance to our group to defend our local environment and make sure the process of the Environmental Impact Statement for the Wellington weir is carried out in a proper legal manner.

On the 30th November we were fortunate enough for Dr Paul Sinclair to join with us at Henry and Gloria Jones' home for lunch. The purpose of the gathering was to talk with Dr Sinclair regarding water issues including the formation of Waterkeepers in our region. He was in SA as guest speaker at the AGM of the EDO, which several RLCAG committee members attended.
Early in 2007, he had previously addressed the meeting at Goolwa that many of you attended and spoke there as the head of the Conservation Council of Australia.

Several members traveled to Meningie on the 9th Jan to attend the meeting regarding Acid Sulphate Soils. It has become apparent that the scientists who have been studying the problem have written a report to government departments with management options. It is more than a little disturbing to hear first hand from the scientists that one suggested option is to allow seawater into the lakes to keep the lakebed from drying. We will be working more on this!

Another issue for the group is the discovery that consideration is being given to some form of "Regulator" on the Finniss river. Members are addressing this issue promptly and hope that this weir mentality of government can be dealt with swiftly.

Your Committee is:

• Chair: Anne Hartnett
• Secretary: Terry Sim
• Treasurer: David Knappstein
• Bruce Allnutt
• Chris Bagley
• Paul Davis
• Trevor Giles
• Henry Jones
• Liz Yelland

Membership:

The annual membership fee for joining is $10.00 per person or per household. Annual membership renewals become due by 1 July 2008.