Mrs Dalton is one of a number of district residents who has lodged a submission to the Senate Inquiry looking at the Plan.

“The persistent attack on general security water is stripping food production and the flow is impacting on processing businesses,” Mrs Dalton said.

“Griffith and district irrigation areas have made huge investments of money and labour to create an efficient irrigation area and we only need to add water.”

Mrs Dalton said she believed the Murray Darling Basin Authority was using data that was outdated.

She said the Water Act needed to be revisited to restore confidence into communities and farming.

“The MDBP has been formulated on drought years and data has been cherry picked,” Mrs Dalton said.

She has also called on Member for Murray Adrian Piccoli to make a submission to the Inquiry.

“Adrian Piccoli needs to lodge a submission that actually reflects what people on the ground want,” Mrs Dalton said.

“We want to see him come out and support irrigation businesses and rural regional communities because that's his job.”

Mrs Dalton said she believed Premier Mike Baird should also visit the region to speak to irrigators affected by the Plan.

The Murrumbidgee Valley Food and Fibre Association (MVFFA) has also lodged a submission.

“The general feeling among MVFFA membership is that federal and state water policy that has been based on the Water Act 2007 and the Murray Darling Basin Plan has been a negative, parochial and counterproductive experience,” the submission states.

“It has primarily focused on rules, process and numbers for bureaucratic purposes with very little focus on achieving mutually beneficial outcomes for the economy, rural communities or our wetland environments.”

MVFFA’s submission states the real socioeconomic impact of the MDBP has been underrated.

“The non-strategic buybacks are clearly impacting on the social and economic heart of irrigation areas,” the submission states.

“The MDBA process lacks meaningful/accountable engagement or consultation and is instead just ‘presenting to’ and ‘lecturing at’ affected communities by using projective models based on questionable assumptions and claiming them as hard, indisputable facts.”

The inquiry was established in late June to look into the social, economic and environmental impacts of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan on regional communities.

Submissions are set to close on September 25 with a final report expected on February 26, next year.