Melting snows are last lifeblood

The Australian

Selina Mitchell
October 14, 2006

WATER flows transferred from Snowy Mountains rivers after melted snows are keeping the Murray-Darling river system alive - but the predicted long hot summer could jeopardise even that last-resort lifeline.

According to the latest report from the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, water in the three major reservoirs is rapidly decreasing as the hot, dry weather continues.

Allocations to irrigators who draw water from the river system - which stretches from Queensland, through NSW and Victoria to South Australia - have already been slashed and some farmers will receive no water this year.

A reduction in crops generated in the basin - Australia's food basket - could dramatically affect the national economy.

Total water capacity in the basin sits at 34 per cent at the beginning of the irrigation season, during which irrigators will use billions of litres from the basin for crops such as rice, citrus fruits and cotton.

Unseasonably warm and dry conditions continued along the Murray River system over the past week, with virtually no rain across the entire basin.

Hume Reservoir is at 14per cent capacity, Menindee Lakes 13per cent, Dartmouth Reservoir 50per cent capacity, and Lake Victoria (which has by far the smallest storage capacity) is at 80per cent.

There has been little water for important wetlands such as Hattah Lakes, which are stressed due to the extended drought, the report says.

Commission chief executive Wendy Craik warned that if there was no rain, the basin's water storages would be bone dry by May next year.

"Then we will have to rely on the Snowy releases, which may also be lowered due to drought, and any rainfall into the catchment."

Some NSW towns in the basin, such as Byrock, are already relying on water carting.

Other towns' supplies - including those of Ivanhoe, Bourke, Wilcannia, Broken Hill and Cobar - are being closely monitored by the state Government.

Ms Craik said even Adelaide's water supply could be threatened as the city is located near the end of the Murray River.

Victorian towns are also facing shortages but insiders said the situation in the state's Murray region was not as dire because the resource had been carefully managed.

Liberal senator and NSW farmer Bill Heffernan said Australia was headed for its worst drought. "What we need is a proper audit and then to ration the water to the point of worst-case scenario," he said.

"That may well mean everyone suffers, including the environment. The basin has 4.2 per cent of the runoff and 70 per cent of the farming activity. We need to look to the water resources of the north to help us out."

Senator Heffernan told the ABC yesterday there had been a complete failure of crops in his district in southern NSW.

"The Bureau of Meteorology and the Murray-Darling Basin confirm that we are entering into new territory in terms of water deficiency and certainly dry weather," he said.

Almost half of the water that will be used for irrigation in the Murray-Darling Basin this summer will come from the Snowy River scheme.

This year the Snowy will provide 2088GL of water to the Murray and Murrumbidgee river systems.

Across the basin, only 5630GL is available on paper for irrigation - and the reality is expected to fall short of that figure.

The Murray-Darling Basin is Australia's most important agricultural region, generating a third of the nation's gross value of agriculture production.