The South Australian government has been accused of slowly killing the River Murray, despite announcing a deal for an extra 70 billion litres of floodwater.
Paul Sinclair from the Australian Conservation Foundation said the government should buy permanent water rather than rely on temporary goodwill from the other states.
Premier Mike Rann on Wednesday announced the new deal, struck with NSW Premier Kristina Keneally a day earlier.
It follows a 148 billion litre deal in January and Mr Rann said, together with other flows, 408 billion litres of water would now reach SA's parched Lower Lakes.
The SA government is also in talks with Queensland about recent flooding in the state, thought to be the most extensive there since the 1890s.
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"(Queensland Premier) Anna Bligh is extremely supportive of it flowing down to the Murray and to the Lower Lakes," Mr Rann said. But Dr Sinclair said it was too little too late, claiming the South Australian government had been dogged by inaction. "A lot of it is already gone," he told AAP.
"So what we're talking about is saving the rest of Australia's natural and cultural heritage...
"The SA government needs to put its money where its mouth is and buy permanent water for the Lower Lakes and Coorong.
"That, ultimately, is the only promise that politicians can keep."
Opposition Water spokesman Mitch Williams said the new deal was only struck because NSW had too much water following floods earlier in the year.
"What it can't physically hold will come to SA, it's got nothing to do with Mike Rann's negotiations," he said.
His leader Isobel Redmond made a surprise visit to Canberra on Wednesday in the hope of meeting with members of the federal government over her concerns about health and water.
But Federal Water Minister Penny Wong said she hadn't been approached.
"Ms Redmond needs to face the fact that her own federal leader, Mr Abbott, plans to give priority to irrigators upstream rather than focusing on the health of the overall Basin, Senator Wong said.
"The embarrassing irony for Ms Redmond is that while she demands more water for the Lower Lakes, her own party's policy will mean far less water for the Lower Lakes."
SA Water Minister Jay Weatherill said the "long-term solution" was to get upstream states to end their over-allocation of water.
"Remember, 93 per cent of the waters of the River Murray are taken by the upstream states and seven per cent by South Australia," he said. AAP ahe/tr 10-03-10 1737
