For More Than A Dozen Towns In Eastern Australia, Day Zero (No Water Supply) Approaches

An unprecedented water shortage in drought-stricken eastern Australia is driving home the brutal realities of climate change and threatening the much-mythologised Outback way of life. From sunny Queensland all the way to Sydney, more than a dozen small towns are facing their own “Day Zero” within months, a water crisis reminiscent of the taps being turned off in Cape Town and Chennai.

It’s getting hotter, it’s getting drier, and adding to the misery, precious water supplies are being tasked to fight hundreds of bushfires ripping through the Australian countryside.

In the small horticulture hub of Stanthorpe, Queensland, a prolonged crushing drought has left water supplies at the local dam sitting metres below normal levels. Despite sitting within the basin of Australia’s biggest river system — as do all of the towns running dry — Stanthorpe is set to run dry by Christmas.


Cattle feeding on a drought-affected farm near Armidale in regional New South Wales. Photo: William West / AFP Photo

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Farmers are taking radical measures just to survive, spending a small fortune to truck-in water for their crops or renting land in other districts that have been less badly affected. “I do know of some growers who are literally bone dry and have decided to plant nothing this year and practically close their businesses down in the short-term,” Ferrier said. Their struggles have had a knock-on effect in town, where shops are on the brink of shutting, and desperation has led to several instances of water theft across the region. To the south, the entire state of New South Wales was declared in drought last December. Some reservoirs are as low as one percent of capacity, and smaller towns such as Guyra have effectively already run dry.


Storm King dam near Stanthorpe in regional Queensland used to be a popular swimming spot, but there is hardly any water left now. Photo: William West / AFP Photo

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https://desdemonadespair.net/2019/09/day-zero-looms-in-australian-outback-as-climate-change-bites-its-that-core-of-the-country-where-mum-and-dad-and-the-kids-work-together-theyre-the-ones.html