00:02Henderson Lagoon near Falmouth on Tasmania's east coast was once a swimmer's paradise.
00:08Now the water has receded and the lagoon rarely connects to the ocean.
00:14I learned to swim here, my kids learned to swim here.
00:17It would be really nice if their kids, our grandchildren could learn to swim here too,
00:21but it's kind of looking doubtful at the moment.
00:24Locals say extremely low rainfall is partly to blame,
00:28but they fear the already compromised lagoon will be devastated
00:32if a local farmer is allowed to extract an extra 360 million litres of water upstream.
00:40The farmer declined to comment, while the department assessing the application
00:45says it's committed to protecting the area's environmental values.
00:49The way the system is at the moment, there's a few that might say it may never recover,
00:54but if this next dam goes in and is approved, it almost definitely won't recover.
00:59The Tasmanian government wants to quadruple the value of the state's agriculture sector to $10 billion by 2050.
01:07Concerned locals fear that means the state's water resources are being prioritised for farming,
01:13and potential environmental consequences are being ignored.
01:17What we should be doing is taking a far more precautionary approach to allocating water,
01:22but the government's going in the opposite direction.
01:25But Tasfarmers says stressed catchments, particularly on the east coast, have been carefully managed.
01:32There wouldn't be many farmers who would say it's too easy to get extra water.
01:35It is a rigorous process, as it should be.
01:37Locals want the state government to develop a water management plan for the area.
01:42David Godfrey-Smith says he's willing to help fund it.
01:46This is an environmental jewel here,
01:49and the state government should be helping the community look after it.
01:54But if push comes to shove, we'll do the study ourselves.
01:59Otherwise, he fears the lagoon will be lost to future generations.
02:12Let's see.
02:12so in this case we'll liberty our entire society will ask.
02:13fonts and other stories we own as well.
