Earth Equity News

Decade-Long Australian Drought Worsens. By Rod McGuirk, AP, July 10, 2008. " A decade-long drought in Australia's most important crop-growing region is worsening and there is little hope for relief from either saving rains or a new government conservation plan, officials said Thursday. The Murray-Darling river system, which produces 40 percent of Australia's fruit, vegetables and grain, is facing an economic and ecological crisis because of a decade of below-average rainfall. The Murray Darling Basin Commission, which monitors water flows in the river catchment, said in a report [PDF, 5 pp] Thursday that hopes of the cooler months bringing drought-breaking rains had faded... Thursday's report said the level of rainwater to the Murray-Darling system in June was the lowest on record and only 16 percent of the average. Records have been kept for 117 years. Levels during the autumn months from March through May were only marginally higher than the driest autumn on record, which was last year, and only 25 percent of the average. The annual total is also likely to be below average, the report said."