Aussie drought emergency
One town has already run dry and thousands of desperate Aussie families could soon run out of drinking water
There are young children in parts of the Upper Hunter in NSW who are having their baths in buckets so the water can be recycled for the two loads of washing each household is allowed.
Soon even that scant allocation of water may evaporate as the worst drought in history’s deadly grip on Australia forces farmers off the land as millions of hectares of pasture turn to dust.
Nearly 500km north of the Hunter Valley, in the Queensland town of Stanthorpe, the situation is so dire, residents are now down to using less than 120 litres each a day – the average Australian shower uses at least 55 litres. Warwick is also facing a zero-water crisis, yet will have to provide water to Stanthorpe – until there’s none left.
Just over the border in the NSW town of Tenterfield, one bore is only able to replenish about half of what the town’s dam is losing. The dam will be empty within 200 days.
ONLY DAYS TO GO
At Walcha, a beef and sheep farming town on the NSW northern tablelands, where water has never been a scarce resource, the townsfolk are now less than 60 days away from completely running out. Their desperate neighbours at Guyra are already trucking in water.
Trucks are shipping in water in several towns and villages across NSW and Queensland. The NSW Government has already committed $15 million to get water to places like Menindee, Pooncarie and Tibooburra. Orange, Narromine, Cobar and Nyngan will also run out of water within months.
The townsfolk of Murrurundi, near Scone, already know what it’s like to live without one of our most basic needs, with the town supply running out of water weeks ago – all their water is trucked in now.
But for some of the bigger hubs, such as Dubbo and Tamworth, life-saving water trucks are not an option. There are just too many people who need water. Tamworth’s water supply is fast disappearing and Lake Keepit, which feeds the vast Namoy Valley and is the size of Sydney Harbour – ran dry months ago.
Add to that the ever-present threat of fire, which is keeping many community leaders up at night, because if flames were to take hold, there are no dams or rivers with water to refill tankers to fight a bushfire.
Each tale is shocking, each situation is dire. And they’re just a handful of the life-changing issues facing a long list of towns for thousands of kilometres across both states as their land is turned into dust bowls by the worst drought on record.
Local Government NSW president Linda Scott said regional cities and towns are preparing for a day zero that’s less than 12 months away, with some expected to face it within three to six months.
“And in some areas, it’s probably a matter of weeks,” Ms Scott told news.com.au.
“This is very serious. Carting water in trucks for hundreds of kilometres on dirt roads is going to be the only way some councils can provide drinking water to locals.”
Authorities say storage levels ls have dropped 30 per cent over r the past 18 months, which is an unprecedented rate of dam water depletion.
And there are dire forecasts rainfall could be just a quarter of the average in spring. Our farmers need help like they’ve never needed it before.
“The lack of rain and inflows into our dams and rivers has hit record lows and communities are in real danger of running out of water,’’ NSW Water Minister Melinda Pavey confirmed last week.
‘THE WORST WE’VE SEEN’
“Catchments that have been historically reliable like the Upper Hunter, Peel Valley and Central West are now facing a critical shortage of water.
“This means no water for our families to drink, to wash their clothes, our children to bathe, and of course to keep our industries alive and jobs in our communities. Major cities like Tamworth, Scone, Orange, ange, Bathurst and Dubbo run the risk of running out of water in the next
12 months.’’
Walcha publican Graeme Hislop doesn’t need to hear the figures to know how dire the situation has become in his town. He sees it in the eyes of the locals.
“It’s hurting big time. You have 90-year-old cockies saying it’s the worst drought they’ve ever seen,’’ Graeme says. “They’re saying the cattle are just frames with leather on them, they’re so poor. I’d say even the last four weeks morale has plummeted. We’ve had nine inches of rain this year to date, which is worse than last year, and there’s no talk of it. And we get 48 inches normally for the year.
“I’m a bush boy born and bred and I haven’t heard people talk the way they’re talking. The despair is huge. I’m talking pretty hard men,” the publican adds.
“Things are grim. And realistically, we might even be doing a little better than the guys out west. Things are going south really quickly.’’ quickly.
‘The despair is huge. I’m talking pretty hard men’