Re: SC27

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20576814-601,00.html

When all the rivers run dry

FARMERS across the country are watching their crops turn to dust, selling stock they can no longer afford to feed, and heading yet again to the banks to plead their cases as they suffer through what could be Australia's worst drought. Treasurer Peter Costello has warned of a rural recession and Prime Minister John Howard has promised his Government will do all it can to help farmers through this latest "hammer blow", including extending drought assistance.
Howard says when the bush suffers, all Australians feel their pain. But the emotional sympathy will be just part of that pain, as prices escalate for the food crops that manage to survive the hot, dry conditions. This week in Canberra politicians were briefed by scientists on the worsening drought, and were warned there is no end in sight to the dry conditions.

Murray-Darling Basin Commission head Wendy Craik told senators storages in the basin's three main dams would hit rock bottom by May next year if there was no substantial rain. "Basically we want to pray for rain."

Australia's greatest river system, and the people who depend on it, are on the verge of catastrophe. The Murray-Darling river system is in its sixth year of drought. Dam levels are lower at this time of year than ever before. Irrigators face the lowest-ever allocations, which will have dire consequences for the rice and dairy industries.

The mouth of the Murray has only been kept open for the past five years by constant dredging, and summer could bring destructively high levels of salinity to the lower lakes.

The consequences will reverberate throughout the country: the Murray-Darling basin is Australia's food bowl, with irrigated agriculture worth more than $5.5billion. The forecast by the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics last month that drought will wipe $3.5billion off the grain crop are now appearing wildly optimistic.

"The Murray-Darling system is running on empty and starting to cough and splutter," Mike Young, professor of water economics and management at the University of Adelaide, said recently. "The river is giving its last gasps and it is really scary, it's scary everywhere. There will be some communities that will be desperate due to a lack of water."........................

Drought worldwide, a huge developing problem enhanced by Global Warming conditions, and predicted to get worse in years to come.