Australia: Water Crisis

Large sections of rural Australia are facing economic ruin and consumers have been warned of soaring prices for basic food items unless drought-relieving rain arrives within weeks.

In the most chilling assessment yet of the water crisis, The Age reports that Prime Minister John Howard says he has received a report warning of an “unprecedently dangerous” situation in the Murray-Darling Basin — the national agricultural “food bowl” that spans four Australian states.

Mr Howard said that unless there was “heavy rain” in the next six to eight weeks, there would be no water allocations for irrigation in the basin, which accounts for 71 percent of Australia’s irrigated crops and 41 percent of the nation’s agricultural produce overall.

Wayne Meyer, professor of natural resource science at the University of Adelaide, said the impact on irrigators would be huge, particularly stone fruit, citrus and grape growers.

He warned that $6 billion worth of production was directly at risk, with flow-on costs for dependent businesses like food processors and transport companies “three to five times that”.

That suggests if there is no rain in coming months it will cost the economy up to $36 billion — before even considering the economic pain caused by an inevitable increase in food prices.

Mr Howard called on all Australians to pray for rain “without any sense of irony or any sense of being anything other than totally serious” because the situation for farmers was critical.

“Based on the need to provide a critical minimum supply of water to urban communities within the basin, there is unlikely to be any water available for irrigation purposes in the upcoming water year (August to May),” Mr Howard said.

“The impact that this is going to have on the horticultural industry and crops like grapes and stone fruits and other primary industries that rely on irrigation, including the dairy industry, is very critical indeed.”

He said some farmers would be able to use rivers for their personal needs, but not for stock. “In other cases, as many farmers have been doing already, they may have to truck in water,” he said. “It is a grim situation and there is no point in pretending to the Australian public otherwise.”