Australia: Study Projects 40% Water Loss In Murray - Darling River Basin In Next 20 Years

[hatrack]

Worsening climate change will force farms and towns along the Murray and lower Darling rivers to live with 41 per cent less water within 20 years, a new CSIRO report says. The report says food production and wetlands ecosystems will bear the brunt of change, with water diversions for irrigation projected to be cut by 30 per cent in South Australia, 32 per cent in NSW and 18 per cent in Victoria.

Dams, weirs and irrigation channels have already reduced flows to the lower reaches of the Murray including the dying Coorong wetlands and Lower Lakes by 61 per cent, with the region receiving no water about 40 per cent of the time, the report says. It also refutes recent claims by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd that the deteriorating state of South Australia's Coorong wetlands the beautiful coastal setting for the film Storm Boy is solely due to climate change.

The CSIRO report warns, ''during the recent drought, South Australian irrigation allocations have sometimes been higher than current practice would recommend''. It suggests the full extent of water extraction for irrigation may have been under-reported in South Australia, opening up the possibility that long-term water theft may be linked to the collapse of the Coorong.

Mr Rudd and the Federal Minister for Climate Change and Water, Penny Wong, visited the Hume Dam on the Murray River near Albury after the release of the CSIRO report on future water availability in the Murray River catchment.

EDIT

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/big-rivers-tipped-to-lose-40pc-of-flow/810926.aspx

[hogwyld]

1. That's going to leave a mark on world food supplies

Which are already tight. China imports a good chunk of wheat from Australia. We are in a flat spin, and there's no way to get out of it.

[NNadir]

2. This would be a great time to invest in Australian biofuels.

The dead trees alone are an enormous possible source of automotive fuel.