Murray River reaches record lows amid drought
Posted on April 9th, 2009
ClimateWire: An unprecedented drought in Australia has reduced water flow into the stricken Murray River to a record low.
Water flow between January and March was the lowest for that quarter in the 117 years on record.
“We’ve had big droughts before, and big floods before, but what we didn’t have was climate change,” said Rob Freeman, CEO of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority.
Australia, with a traditionally hot and dry climate, is one of the nations most vulnerable to climate change (ClimateWire, Jan. 30).
With government meteorologists predicting more dry weather over the next three months, irrigators have been warned to expect reduced water allocations for the third straight year. Rice growers will get no water, and fruit growers must buy water if they want relief.
The drought is also threatening wetland ecosystems and floodplains near the mouth of the Murray in South Australia, Freeman said (Debra Jopson, Sydney Morning Herald, April 8). – TL