Antinuclear

Summer outlook ‘dire’ for Murray-Darling, Brisbane Times,  Matt Coughlan, October 25, 2019  The head of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority has warned of dire conditions across the crucial river system with the situation expected to worsen during a hot and dry summer.MDBA chief executive Phillip Glyde said the most critical situation was in the drought-ravaged northern basin where some water storages are as low as “one or two per cent”.

“Conditions are dire in the north,” he told a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Friday.

Total storage in the basin is at 39.7 per cent with the southern basin at 44 per cent.

While not as dire, if there is no significant rainfall in winter and spring next year, the southern basin’s water resources will also be severely limited,” Mr Glyde said.

The Bureau of Meteorology found the 33 months between January 2017 and September this year were the driest average on record across the basin.

The bureau has also forecast low flows for the rest of spring and summer, with a warm and dry pattern likely to continue through to January.

“These conditions continue to place immense pressure on communities, industries and the environment,” Mr Glyde said……….

The bureau has also forecast low flows for the rest of spring and summer, with a warm and dry pattern likely to continue through to January.

“These conditions continue to place immense pressure on communities, industries and the environment,” Mr Glyde said………

Nationals senator and committee chair Susan McDonald said the Murray-Darling Basin was probably Australia’s most important issue.  https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/federal/summer-outlook-dire-for-murray-darling-20191025-p5346u.html