This year marks the 30th continuous year of the SIRLWMP, which has directed strategic investment across the irrigated landscape of the Goulburn Broken catchment since its inception.
“The plan put the Goulburn Valley in a sustainable position when it comes to water management, particularly regarding salinity,” Mr Pettigrew said.
“It helped bring the community together, I believe the community has been the big winner out of this.”
The former SPC director said one key to the success of the plan was getting the right people involved from the beginning.
“We were very fortunate to have John Dainton,” he said.
“The strong community around him really helped build the groundswell of support we needed to get going.
“He was eager to get environmental people together in one group so they could contribute to the plan — and that was the start of the Goulburn Valley Environment Group in 1989.”
Mr Pettigrew said having the right people on board also helped build trust in the plan.
“One of the greatest challenges in the early days was winning the trust of the agencies, farmers, communities and councils.”
Mr Pettigrew said in the beginning some farmers were suspicious of the plan’s motives.
“It was a struggle because when we identified areas where salinity was a problem, we came up against sensitivity because no-one wanted their farm to be identified as a salinity risk. We had to manage that carefully.”
He said over the journey he could only recall a handful of blunders.
“The drainage scheme for the Muckatah Depression was an issue that comes to mind.
“We thought we had a wonderful plan but there was a lot of pressure from downstream people who were worried about flooding.
“Politically it brought the whole plan to a head and it was a terribly difficult time but I believe we ended up with a much better plan.
“We have definitely made a few mistakes along the way. But that’s because in many ways we were breaking new ground.
“Fortunately, there were no enormous mistakes and on balance we are on the right side of the ledger.”
