Drought+in+Australia

= = Drought in Australia

The **Australian** continent is subject to a wide diversity of climatic and environmental conditions, which can cause significant amounts of damage. Of all the natural hazards to plague the continent, **drought,** or a period of rainfall that does not provide for the needs of users, is the most financially costly. Over the years, the financial losses incurred by drought have been significant. Total losses caused by the severe 1982-1983 drought, for example, were estimated by the Australian Government to exceed $3 billion. Australia's history has been dominated by periods of extreme dryness, particularly in rural regions located far from well-watered coastal areas.

Since 1860, when adequate meteorological recording commenced, the most severe droughts have occurred commonly at intervals of 11 to 14 years. Major droughts that were recorded later in the 19th century include: > === === > === === The little data available indicates that this drought period was rather severe in Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia.
 * 1803 Drought in NSW that produced severe crop failures.toc
 * 1809 Beginning of an unusually severe drought in NSW that continued until 1811.
 * 1813-15 Severe drought in NSW that prompted searches for new pastures.
 * 1826-29 Severe drought in NSW that caused Lake George to dry up and the Darling River to cease flowing.
 * 1829 Major drought in Western Australia with very little water available.
 * 1835 and 1838 Sydney and NSW receive 25% less rain than usual. Severe drought in Northam and York areas of Western Australia.
 * 1839 Severe drought in the west and north of Spencer Gulf, South Australia.
 * 1846 Severe drought converted the interior and far north of South Australia into an arid desert.
 * 1849 Sydney received about 27 inches less rain than normal.
 * 1850 Severe drought, with big losses of livestock across inland New South Wales (NSW) and around the western rivers region.
 * 1864 - 66 (and 1868).
 * 1877 All States affected by severe drought, with disastrous losses in Queensland. In Western Australia many native trees died, swamps dried up and crops failed.
 * 1880 to 1886 Drought in Victoria (northern areas and Gippsland); New South Wales (mainly northern wheat belt, Northern Tablelands and south coast); Queensland (1881–86, in south-east with breaks - otherwise mainly in coastal areas, the central highlands and central interior in 1883-86); and South Australia (1884–86, mainly in agricultural areas).
 * 1888 Extremely dry in Victoria (northern areas and Gippsland); Tasmania (1887-89 in the south); New South Wales had the driest year since records began; Queensland (1888–89) had a very severe drought, with much native scrub dying and native animals perishing; South Australia had one of its most severe droughts; and Western Australia (central agricultural areas) lost many sheep.

Drought in the 20th century
During the severe, Australia wide, 1902 Federation Drought the total sheep population dropped to fewer than 54,000,000 from a total of 106,000,000 sheep in 1891 and cattle numbers fell by more than 40 per cent. It was 1925 before the sheep numbers reached the hundred-million mark again. At the time of Federation, Australia suffered a major drought. There had been a number of years of below average rainfall across most of Australia before the drought. During the drought the wheat crop was "all but lost" and the Darling River was dry at Bourke, New South Wales for over a year from April 1902 to May 1903. There was concern about Sydney's water supply. In the 1911-1915 period, Australia suffered a major drought which resulted in the failure of the 1914 wheat crop.

A very severe drought occurred in the second half of 1991 which intensified in 1994 and 1995 to become the worst on record in Queensland. This drought was influenced by a strong El Nino weather pattern and associated with high temperatures in July and August 1995, the fifth continuous year of drought in parts of Queensland. According to Primary Industries Minister, Ed Casey, "the drought affected region stretched in a 200 km to 300 km wide strip from Stanthorpe to Charters Towers". So few wheat and barley crops survived, about half the usual for that year, that grains had to be imported from other states. In June 1994, more than 10 towns had lost irrigation systems and some areas had gone five years without decent rainfall

A part of the upper Darling River system collapsed during this drought. By October 1994, the Condamine River was exhausted, reverting to a series of ponds. Across the state more than 13,000 properties, totaling 40% of Queensland was drought declared. The flow past Goondiwindi was the lowest since 1940. Cotton farms near Moree and Narrabri had been allocated no water for irrigation which resulted in a major loss of production. The town of Warwick was particularly affected.

Rainfall deficiencies in 2006
As of November 2006, the late-winter to mid-spring rainfalls had failed. The average rainfall in the state of South Australia was the lowest since 1900. Across Victoria and the Murray-Darling Basin the season was the second driest since 1900. New South Wales' rainfall was boosted by above normal falls along the north coast of the state, however the state average rainfall for the season is the third driest since 1900. The situation has been worsened by temperatures being the highest on record since the 1950s.

Responses dur**ing 2006** **a**nd 2007
The current drought has changed the way Australia treats its water resources. Because of the long-term effects of the drought now showing, many state governments are attempting to "drought-proof" their states with more permanent solutions.

Australia in the past hundred years has relied solely on water from dams for agriculture and consumption.[citation needed] Now schemes like grey-water water-recycling, government rebates for home-owners to install water tanks, and tougher restrictions on industries have come into effect.

The citizens of Toowoomba voted on, and rejected, a referendum on using recycled sewerage water. However, after the referendum Toowoomba began using recycled sewerage water as no other feasible alternative was available.[citation needed] Brisbane is set to be supplied via larger dams, a pipeline and possibly also recycling. A desalination project has been initiated on the Gold Coast, Queensland, but plans for a similar project in Sydney were halted after public opposition and the discovery of underground aquifers. In November 2006 Perth completed a seawater desalination plant that will supply the city with 17% of its needs. Likewise, the Victorian Government is also in the process of building one of the world's largest desalination plants. When complete, it will be capable of producing up to a third of Melbourne's water needs.

prediction and observations for 2007-2008
Dry paddocks in the Riverina region during the 2007 drought Cattle on a sand island in the Murrumbidgee River which is normally underwater but due to low rainfall in the catchment during 2008 has meant water releases from the dams have been reduced.

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In early 2007, senior weather forecasters predicted that the drought would ease along the east coast with a return to average rainfall from late February 2007. Forecasters believed that the El Niño effect that had been rampant during 2006 and 2007 had ended.[26] Heavy rainfall in June and July, particularly incoastal regions of New South Wales and in Victoria's Gippsland region, together with tentative forecasts of a La Niña event, brought hope that the drought may have ended.

The Prime Minister at the time, John Howard, announced on 19 April 2007 that unless there was substantial rain in the next six weeks no water would be allocated to irrigators in the Murray-Darling basin for the coming year. The result of this would have directly affected the 50,000 farmers and the economy. Electricity shortages may also have occurred if the Snowy Mountains Scheme had been forced to shut down its hydroelectric generators.

However, in August 2007, the Darling River flowed again after nearly a year of no flows. Inflows into the Murray-Darling Basin in the winter of 2007 were amongst the lowest on record though marginally better than those of the winter of 2006 which had been the driest on record.

The drought in Sydney eased around April 2008, when Sydney's main water catchments reached 65 percent, 25 per cent fuller than it was at the same time the previous year.

However Victoria remained drought affected, with Melbourne's water supplies dipping to around 30% by July 2008.

In June 2008 it became known that an expert panel had warned of long term, maybe irreversible, severe ecological damage for the whole Murray-Darling basin if it did not receive sufficient water by October of that year.

In Tasmania drought conditions worsened in 2008, with many areas reporting no significant rainfall for three years.

**2009**
In 2009, drought conditions in South East Australia continued, after one of the driest summers for the region. Melbourne had had Stage 3a water restrictions from 1 April, 2007, and narrowly avoided Stage 4 restrictions, with the minimum storage level of around 25.8% [36] remaining above the threshold of 25% for enacting Stage 4. Many towns in Victoria were close to running out of water, with some of the few Victorian towns without water restrictions being in the East Gippsland water area, where reservoir levels were above 80%.

**2010**
The 2010 Victorian storms in March did little to help Melbourne's storage levels, but steady winter rains, and the 2010 Victorian floods in September, caused storage levels to remain above about 32.7%, rising to over 46% in September and 51% by late November.

2010 has seen Australia officially record its wettest spring on record due to a moderate to strong La Nina developing over the region. Water restrictions were reduced to stage 3 on 2 April, and stage 2 on 1 September. 2010 has also seen Melbourne reach average annual rainfall since 1996, and its wettest spring since 1993.

The drought in Queensland has mostly eased with Brisbane recording very heavy rain in May 2009, and premier Anna Bligh announcing that South East Queensland was no longer experiencing drought.[41] Brisbane's dams are now at full capacity with the state in general experiencing its wettest spring on record.

Despite Western Australia experiencing its fifth wettest spring on record, the South West, Gascoyne and Pilbara regions of Western Australia's drought has intensified, with the region experiencing its driest year on records, with Perth's dams registering it's lowest inflows on record with the city itself likely to register its third-driest year on record, along with the hottest spring on record. Prospects for a wetter than average summer, however, look likely for the state, along with the rest of Australia.