Dry Aushtraya
The Economist has an article discussing Australia's water shortage. The article is aptly named Dry as a dead dingo's donger. Things definitely look grim for our sunburnt land:
The world's driest inhabited continent, Australia is facing water shortages unprecedented in the two centuries since Europeans settled it. There is a long-running drought in the country's east, the main farming belt. Sydney, the biggest city, whose main supply reservoir is just 40% full, and Canberra, the capital, are both on indefinite water restrictions. The Murray River and Darling River (known as the Murray Darling Basin, or MDB), which supply more than two-thirds of Australia's farming irrigation, are flowing at their lowest levels in a century.
The bloody farmers won't be happy. I spent my first nine years in outback NSW (not the most water-rich region) in a cotton-growing town. To make your average cotton T-shirt, you need over 100 odd bath-tubs of water (I can't remember the source). That's a lot of water. Perish the thought if they developed GM crops that used less water though.
My mate's family owns a banana farm about an hour north of Brisbane. In the early winter mornings they turn huge sprinklers on to warm the banana plants, and prevent frost damage. You'd think they'd grow their bananas in a more, I don't know, tropical region? But then again, I suppose now they wouldn't be laughing all the way to the bank as bananas reach record high prices in Oz. Incidentally, farmers are concerned about importing peeled, cooked, and frozen bananas into Sydney - an area reknown for its banana farms - because of the potential for viruses to spread.
Generations back, all the good farming locations were naturally taken first, hence you now have farms built in not the most ideal areas. Australia always seems to be in one drought or the other. When I was growing up it was El Niño's fault. The food basket of the world has gone dry.
The world's driest inhabited continent, Australia is facing water shortages unprecedented in the two centuries since Europeans settled it. There is a long-running drought in the country's east, the main farming belt. Sydney, the biggest city, whose main supply reservoir is just 40% full, and Canberra, the capital, are both on indefinite water restrictions. The Murray River and Darling River (known as the Murray Darling Basin, or MDB), which supply more than two-thirds of Australia's farming irrigation, are flowing at their lowest levels in a century.
The bloody farmers won't be happy. I spent my first nine years in outback NSW (not the most water-rich region) in a cotton-growing town. To make your average cotton T-shirt, you need over 100 odd bath-tubs of water (I can't remember the source). That's a lot of water. Perish the thought if they developed GM crops that used less water though.
My mate's family owns a banana farm about an hour north of Brisbane. In the early winter mornings they turn huge sprinklers on to warm the banana plants, and prevent frost damage. You'd think they'd grow their bananas in a more, I don't know, tropical region? But then again, I suppose now they wouldn't be laughing all the way to the bank as bananas reach record high prices in Oz. Incidentally, farmers are concerned about importing peeled, cooked, and frozen bananas into Sydney - an area reknown for its banana farms - because of the potential for viruses to spread.
Generations back, all the good farming locations were naturally taken first, hence you now have farms built in not the most ideal areas. Australia always seems to be in one drought or the other. When I was growing up it was El Niño's fault. The food basket of the world has gone dry.
posted by Engels at 12:26 pm
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