Dr Williams, one of Australia’s leading authorities on sustainable agriculture, said the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline project was an example of a regional community and regional industry actively taking responsibility for planning to live with less water, and accepting the need to return water to rivers and creeks.

“From what I have seen in the work of the communities of the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline project, there is active community engagement and visioning of a new and better future in response to the change in water availability,” Dr Williams said.

“I see some of the aspects of community development and regional development here that is desperately needed across the Basin,” he said.

The work of the Wimmera Mallee appears to me to have within it the seeds of our future, and it would be wise for us in the basin to listen and learn.”

The two-day program, In the Face of Change – The Future of Wimmera Mallee Agriculture with Pipeline Water, was held in Horsham and provided insight into what a piped water supply might mean for the region.

The events were the culmination of two years of research by the Department of Primary Industries for the Sustainable Agribusiness Opportunities from the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline project.