'Waterways are drying up': plea for environmental laws

The Roper River is the lifeblood of Mataranka but even before the Northern Territory's largest-ever water allocation comes into effect, traditional owners can feel its health waning.

Farmers, frackers and other water users will be allowed to extract 210 billion litres of water per year from the aquifers that feed the river as part of an allocation plan released by the former territory government.

Environmentalists warn it could cause the river to stop flowing.

Mangarrayi elder Cecilia Lake says the riverways in her community are already drying up because of agriculture, including water-intensive cotton farming.

"We really need to get help to stop this because what's happening now is devastating but we want to protect it for the future," she said.

"It's caused a lot of damage to our lore and our culture.

"Our waterways are drying up - inside we can feel that connection, we're crying for help."

Without changes to the water allocation plan, local livelihoods are at risk, a study by researchers at Griffith University found.

Ms Lake and other traditional owners have travelled to Canberra to plead with the federal government to strengthen environmental laws to establish a national environment watchdog.

"We can feel that the government down here is willing to help us, so we just hope that it goes the right way that we want to in protecting our future, our bush life," she said.

The government's "nature positive" bill is stalled in the Senate, with the opposition trying to make it easier for miners and other heavy water users to receive project approvals.

Meanwhile, the crossbench, led by the Greens and Independent MP David Pocock, have banded together to demand amendments to strengthen the act.

That would include a requirement for cotton farmers, pastoralists or fracking company proposals for water allocations to be referred under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

Currently, this is optional, says Environment Centre NT chief executive Kirsty Howey.

"It's a free-for-all in the Northern Territory," she told AAP.

"Traditional owners are being ignored, nature is being decimated.

"But there would be a really quick fix, which is being put forward by the crossbenchers."

Greens environment spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said the government would be bowing down to the big miners if they made a deal with the coalition to weaken the act.

"This government needs to make a choice," she said.

"Do they want to protect nature, save the koalas and protect the climate, or do they want to roll over and be a patsy for Gina Rinehart and the mining lobby?"

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said she would like to see the laws passed as is, but would look to work with either the coalition or the crossbench to get them through.

"Australia needs a national EPA (Environment Protection Australia entity). We want faster, clearer decisions for business," she told Sky News.

"There's something in these laws for everyone."