Go Smell the rains
March 10th, 2008 by aussiecynic
Bo’s recent post has brought to light the fact that not many folks out there, know here in Oz we have been enduring the longest, hardest drought in our history. In some towns it has not rained for 10 years.
It is being called a once in Thousand Year event. Australia is the driest contenient on Earth. We live with drought and hardship through weather, but this has been something totally different. There are children who have never seen rain or water running in the creek beds. Many towns have been without water for several years and water is trucked in at huge costs.
Farmers are shooting livestock and selling all, others are packing up and leaving, just walking out of farms which have been in their families for generations. The Suicide rate has more than doubled and on average one farmer will suicide every four days. Others are ripping their fruit trees and turning their land over to the elements, they just cant keep trying.
The Murray Darling Basin which is the life blood of Eastern Australia and runs from the far North of Queensland through New South Wales, Victoria and into South Australia, fed by smaller river systems has in parts run dry, in others it has turned to acidic ponds of poison and the areas where farmers have a little useable water they are not allowed to access it due to the government cutting their water allocations to nil.
Water restriction in the cities have been in place for years now with watering of gardens, washing of cars etc not allowed, buckets of water to wash your car is all and you can water your garden using waste water from your washing machines etc. Also a user pays on water the more you use the more you pay etc.
Although the land and plants are suited to these extreme conditions they are finding it tough. Gum trees drop there branches to conserve water loss but they are dying, Kangaroos withhold thier feotus’s until conditions improve but they are dying. Although numbers are siad to be in increasing this is beelved to be due to animals gathering in search of water and feed.
All this lack of rain is bringing a new threat to our doorsteps… one of Salinity.
Although many areas are now receiving huge rain falls and some is falling on the catchment areas alot is being lost and taking valuable topsoil with it, and it has not broken the drought. Even down here in Tasmania much of the state is drought declared. We on the West Coast are receiving a fair bit of rain, however it is down on the averages.
The lack of pastures has forced the price to rise into the area of extreme with farmers needing bank loans to feed there cattle and sheep, the price at the shop has also risen to extreme with a side of lamb costing $45.00 plus, but the farmer is getting no more than he did 8 years ago. The price of fruit and vegetables has jumped sharply and is being contributed to the drought and oil prices, but the farmer still get no more. Some are saying this drought will never break, others say it will eventually, but in the past few year the average temperature in New South Wales has risen by 1.54 degrees which is the equivilant of moving it 150 km closer to the equator.
All things considered it will be along time before the sprinklers can come back on, before the kids can play under the Hose and we can take a long guilt free shower. If you come to Australia remember to turn the tap off, have a short quick shower and if you are driving through the country side and see a farm stall at the side of the road stop and buy something because the farmer needs all the help they can get.
Feeling your pain there guys! whilst we have storms hitting the south like a battering ram today.
Jonathan.
Wonderfully eventive people - how are the ‘locals’ coping with the lack of water?
Jonathan’s last blog post..If you’re not getting any satisfaction…
There is a few towns who have learnt to fight bush fires with Dirt.. because there is no water, some towns are getting water trucked in but its hugely expensive, if a farmer is lucky enough to have a bore then at least the stock can drink but still starve because the ground water table has almost emptied… The only way they cope is to cope I think most just get on with it… We had a 5000 litre water tank and that was all the water we had and made it last 8 months before we had to buy some it cost us $780 for about a third of a tank…. and that was cheap….
Bottled stuff is all you can do, no showers all the kids get bathed one after the other in the same water, adults the same… the washing machine is easy… you use the grey water for the first and second fill and then clean water for the rinse this way the cloths are clean and you only use one tub of clean water per load and the grey water either goes to flush the tiolet or on the garden….
aussiecynic’s last blog post..They have Found Ned Kelly
Omg! I had no idea but if the world is melting won’t that save the issue or am I missing the point?
The melt wont help.. it is part of the cause miss magagement is the other I think.. Global warming has shifted the monsoon trough which sends us our rain to pass above and below us instead of over us. What Global Warming will give us is more of this, with bigger and bigger storms which we have been getting, stronger Hurricans which we are also getting… but we will be flooded along the coast in about 50 years… insurance companies have been talking about not insuring properties on the beach, or close to coast because of the damage the storms or doing to erode, and the claims on storm and flood damage…. they are getting more claims these days than they are payments in some areas…. We have been getting throughthe storms massive rain events but still localised.. like the Storm in Mackay a few weeks ago and the one in Newcastle last year, but there was little followup and the ground is so dry in many areas that it just runs off, and doesnt have a chance to soak in … if the rains where steady and continous for a week or two then it break the drought, but huge downpur and then nothing isnt doing much, unless it makes it to rivers and dams…
aussiecynic’s last blog post..They have Found Ned Kelly
AC we had no idea that Australia was suffering so bad. My friend who lives bear Canberra said she hadn’t seen rain for 6 years, but I assumed it was because she lives in the dry part of the country!
In the UK, I remember when the drought went on all summer, but it was nothing like this! Poor farmers - they seem to get a raw deal no matter what! You rarely hear “oh it’s been a perfect year for the farmers!”
Better get doing that naked rain dance for you . . .
G’Day Jem
CAnberra is more on the coastal strip than inland near the snow fields… our nations capital and the only place in the country where you can legally buy naughty movies, pot/weed and fireworks… and politicians live there too…. :lol:
Your friend would have seen rain because it hasnt… average rainfall has been steady decline for many years and its getting worse… even with the huge amounts of rainfall in the past few months it has not broken and these falls have been mostly localised area. The Murray is finally getting some releif from the recent rain in Queensland but unless we get more of the same it will make little difference… Brisbane the Capital of Queensland was almost out of water and it is has a populatin of more that 5 million people….
aussiecynic’s last blog post..They have Found Ned Kelly
I can also feel the pain and the thirst.
kebelle’s last blog post..“Light a Candle for Truth and Justice”
Weather pattern is changing everywhere. Five years ago, rains during summer months was unthinkable in this part of the world, but the last 2-3 years have seen really heavy rains in the mountains near the East Coast of UAE. I also hear people saying that winters are getting warmer in Europe.
I once heard someone say that the total amount of rainfall the earth gets each year is fixed, it is only the locations that keep on changing. I don’t know how true is that, anyone has any ideas?
Dubai Guy’s last blog post..Funny Inflation
That is true all the water on earth and in the atmosphere is all there is…
the water evaporates and falls, freezes and thaws etc.. but there is no more…
aussiecynic’s last blog post..They have Found Ned Kelly
It sounds like a pretty dire situation over there.
Solomon Broad’s last blog post..Things I?m Grateful For on Sunday 9 March
My heart goes out to you all! I hate droughts and yours sounds apopolyptic.
Have any of your cities set up rain water collection systems to catch the bursts of rain that have fallen in some parts of Australia?
Years ago in city such as sydney you were not allowed rain water tanks this was to send profits to the water commission as we all had to use their water, they are now allowing water tanks in major towns and cities, the only thing really is the dam system, the new government is looking at rebates and changes in infrustructor to allow some form collection, however so much of the rain will feed into the rivers and streams and go to wet lands… any government local state or federal will have trouble trying to catch it…. a majority of the river systems feed into the artisan basin and major natural catchment areas for environmentally sensitive areas, any diverstion of this water when it comes will effect the eco system, land management, farming, salinity, soil erotion, and everything else… we are through this drought learning just how delicate this contenient is and how much of an impact we are having upon it….
The mismanagement of this natural resource is highlighted by the crops they are growing in the top end cotton and rice with huge dams bigger than sidney harbour, this water whould have flowed through to the murray darling system and sustained the farmers down stream, however it was taken and used to grow these very thirsty crops… however even they were drying up ….
It will rain and when it does it will flood the country and soak the land for days and weeks, but the question is when ……
aussiecynic’s last blog post..They have Found Ned Kelly
We dread to think and again thanks for highlighting this - we’d no idea it was as bad….
Flowers need water AC!