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  PlanetArk 21 May 07
Drenching Rain Falls on Parched Australian Farms
Story by James Grubel

Channel NewsAsia 18 May 07
Welcome rain falls on parched Australia

Channel NewsAsia 30 Apr 07
Straits Times 1 May 07
Australian cities facing 'Big Dry' water shortages

SYDNEY : Drought-stricken Australia faces the world's most extreme climate change challenge as millions of city dwellers try to cope with water shortages, according to the country's most recognised scientist.

The government has already made the unprecedented declaration that farmers will receive no irrigation water from July in Australia's most fertile region if the country's worst drought in a century continues.

Water restrictions have been imposed across the vast island continent and scientist Tim Flannery, named the 2007 Australian of the year for his pioneering environmental work, says the problem will only get worse.

Flannery said the drought meant two of Australia's largest cities, Brisbane and Adelaide - home to a combined total of almost three million people - would run out of water by the year's end unless the so-called "Big Dry" ended.

"We could see a catastrophic situation developing here by the end of the year. It's become a huge issue," Flannery told AFP. "Even a year ago this would have been unthinkable. I think it's the most extreme and the most dangerous situation arising from climate change facing any country in the world right now.

"We have a situation where, if there are no flows in the Murray-Darling (river system), Adelaide, a city of one million people, has only 40 days' worth of water left in storage.

"If we don't get any rain this year Adelaide and Brisbane may be facing diabolical problems."

The drought, which has lasted a decade in parts of the country, has slowed Australia's overall economic growth by an estimated 0.75 percent as crops have fallen 62 percent.

The impact on rural communities has been devastating. Many farmers have been forced off the land and counselling services have reported unusually high levels of suicide in rural areas.

Children have water conservation messages drummed into them from an early age at school and householders face hefty fines, or can even have their water disconnected, if they are found to be wasting the precious resource.

The impact of climate change is also evident off Australia's northeast coast where the Great Barrier Reef - the world's largest living organism - has been badly damaged by bleaching linked to rising ocean temperatures.

The government is also concerned that Australia's tourism industry, which earns billions of dollars a year, will be hit by "jet guilt" - a reluctance by holidaymakers to take the heavily polluting, long-haul plane flights that are the only practical way to reach Down Under.

Authorities are also considering culling some of the million-plus feral camel population after dromedaries "mad with thirst" rampaged through a remote desert community.

Researchers warn the drought could drive Australia's iconic koalas to extinction within a decade.

The scale of the problem hit home for many Australians in April when Prime Minister John Howard said there would be no water for farms in the Murray-Darling river basin unless the drought broke soon.

Covering more than one million square kilometres (400,000 square miles) in the southeast of Australia, the Murray-Darling basin is the country's largest river system, almost three times bigger than Japan and four times larger than Britain.

It is Australia's rural powerhouse, producing more than 40 percent of the nation's agricultural produce, worth A$10 billion (US$8.3 billion) a year.

The Murray-Darling supports half the nation's sheep flock, a quarter of the cattle herd and three-quarters of irrigated land. - AFP/ch

Channel NewsAsia 18 May 07
Welcome rain falls on parched Australia

SYDNEY: Parts of parched Australia received its heaviest rainfall in years on Friday but farmers warned much more is needed if the six-year drought is to be broken. Towns in eastern Australia have experienced at least 25 millimetres (one inch) of rain since a wet weather system arrived on Thursday.

The National Farmers Federation said the rain was vital to winter crops but more was needed to break the drought which is crippling farm production and threatening water supplies in major cities.

"A system moving through like this doesn't break the drought, it provides relief, but we really need a month of this type of rain," federation president David Crombie told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "We need to fill water tables that have been depleted over the years, that will in turn run creeks and rivers and, of course, fill dams.

"So, you know, there's a fair way to go yet, but what we've received is very, very welcome and we'd like more."

The rainfall, as high as 70 millimetres in some parts, surprised those living in some rural areas where roads have become waterlogged and schools have been forced to cancel sporting activities because of the deluge.

"It's just nice to see that it still can rain," said Anne Arnold of Condobolin in New South Wales' central west.

Mark Pickford from Yeoval, southwest of Sydney, described himself as happy as a "dog with two tails." "It's still showering, yes beautiful, grass will grow," he said.

In southern Victoria state, where much rain has landed in water catchments, more heavy rain is expected later Friday and across the weekend.

"Things have been extremely dry, we've been eating dust for a long time like everyone else, (it's) just great," said Linda Sommerville of Rochester in central Victoria.

Prime Minister John Howard, who last month warned that the country's main agricultural zone would be stripped of irrigation water unless it rained by June, welcomed the downpour.

"Some of our prayers have been answered," he said. "We need days, weeks more of that to say that the drought has ended." - AFP/so

PlanetArk 21 May 07
Drenching Rain Falls on Parched Australian Farms
Story by James Grubel

CANBERRA - Drenching rains fell across most of Australia's parched southeast on Friday, with the best falls in a decade in some areas, delighting farmers who have endured seven years of drought.

But the government said more rains were needed to break the drought. Widespread falls were recorded across New South Wales state, where drought has hit about 80 percent of farmland, and the southern state of Victoria, with more autumn rains forecast over coming days.

In the town of Bourke, about 800 km (500 miles) north west of Sydney, more than 70 millimetres (2.7 inches) fell in the 24 hours to mid-Friday, turning dusty fields to mud and lifting the spirits of struggling farmers.

"It's certainly put a smile on a lot of faces and created some optimism for the future. Things have been so dry out here for the past seven years," Wayne O'Mally told Reuters from his farm, northeast of Bourke. Up to 66 mm rains fell in parts of Victoria.

Prime Minister John Howard welcomed the latest downpours, but said much more was needed to break the drought for most farmers. "Some of them haven't had decent rain for seven years, and we can't overestimate the morale boost that this will represent," Howard told reporters in the northern tropical city of Townsville.

"But we have got to keep hoping and praying for more rain because they will need more than the falls of the past 24 or 36 hours to break the drought."

The downpours came as towns along the country's rivers prepared to impose strict restrictions on water use due to record low river inflows. The government has said there may be no water for irrigation without substantial winter rains.

Inflows into the nation's foodbowl along the Murray-Darling basin remain at record lows, with the government setting aside A$3 billion (US$2.5 billion) over 10 years to buy back water allocations due to the ongoing drought.

The river basin, the size of France and Spain, accounts for 41 percent of Australia's agriculture, 90 percent of irrigated crops and A$22 billion worth of agricultural exports.

Like many other farmers in western New South Wales, O'Mally, who is mayor of the Bourke regional council, has run down his sheep flock and cattle herd, and has been forced to buy in feed.

He said more follow up rain was needed to guarantee feedstock and help secure winter crops.

"We won't need a lot of rain, but we'll certainly need that half inch to an inch of follow up rain to get the country going," O'Mally said.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed sheep flock fell to an estimated 91.9 million in the year to June 30, 2006, down 10 percent on the previous year, due to destocking and farm deaths because of drought, representing the lowest level since 1925.

Australia's worst drought in 100 years in 2002 and 2006 cut wheat crops by 60 percent to around 10 million tonnes, while other grain crops, including barley and canola, were severely cut.

The New South Wales Farmers Association president Jock Laurie said the latest rains were widespread across the state, but strong follow ups were needed and it was too early to say the drought would soon be over.

"We've had some really good falls right across the state and it really is encouraging," Laurie told Reuters. "But there's been some massive losses over the past five years. It's going to take a long while to get people on the road to recovery." (US$1=A$1.21)
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