Judging by the media headlines over the past three years, the dominant issues for sustained use of the Murray-Darling Basin's natural resources are sanity and security of water supply under the Cap on diversions. The average reader could be excused for thinking that there is a simple trade-off between environment and industry - we can't have a healthy river system unless we get rid of cotton or rice production, or we can't continue the remarkable growth in the regional economy unless access to surface and groundwater is maintained or continues to grow. Growers and natural resource management agencies are apparently on a collision path and the resolution is compensation.