Australian drought worst in millennium

dpa German Press Agency
Published: Tuesday November 7, 2006

Sydney- Australian state and federal leaders attending an emergency water summit Tuesday were told the drought currently gripping the country is a one-in-1,000-year event. Prime Minister John Howard called the meeting with state leaders to discuss securing future water supply to cities and towns.

The leaders heard that water levels in the Murray-Darling river system which crosses through three south-eastern states are at record lows.

Murray-Darling Basin Commission official David Dreverman said inflows to the river system this year - already the lowest on record - were 54 per cent below the previous minimum, indicating a "quantum leap" in conditions.

"It's more typical of a one-in-a-thousand-year drought, or possibly even drier, than it is of a one-in-a-hundred-year event," he was quoted by news agency AAP.

The dry spell was so bad that the reservoirs which underpin much of Australia's south-eastern farmland were predicted to dry up before May, Dreverman said.

While Howard was reluctant to endorse the analysis, saying only that the drought was the worst in living memory, South Australian Premier Mike Rann said the scale of the drought was evidence of climate change.

"What we're seeing with this drought is a frightening glimpse of the future with global warming," he told a post-summit press conference.

The leaders agreed to begin cross-state water trading to deliver water to the areas most in need and a working group was formed to develop contingency plans for future water security.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency