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Drought in Australia may harm economy

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 20, 2007

CANBERRA, Australia - Australia's worst drought on record got tougher Thursday when the prime minister announced there won't be enough water for irrigation along the country's largest river system unless there's significant rainfall soon.

Prime Minister John Howard, releasing a new report on the health of the Murray-Darling rivers, said the dry spell was "unprecedentedly dangerous" for Australian farmers and the economy as a whole.

"If it doesn't rain in sufficient volume over the next six to eight weeks, there will be no water allocations for irrigation purposes in the basin" until May 2008, he told reporters.

The affected states would first need to agree to the ban, however, which a government weather forecaster predicted may be unnecessary, thanks to expected above-average rainfall over the next three months.

The Murray-Darling river basin spans five states and accounts for about 85 percent of the nation's irrigation supply. The area generates about 40 percent of Australia's farm produce and supplies drinking water for the South Australia state capital, Adelaide.

The prolonged drought has crippled Australia's farming sector, forcing many cities and towns to enact drastic water restrictions as reservoirs dry up.

National Farmers' Federation chief executive Ben Fargher said thousands of farmers could lose their citrus, almond and olives trees if they cannot be watered this year.

Climatologist Blair Trewin of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said the basin's northeast had more than a 60 percent chance of above-average rainfall before June. The southern part was likely to experience average rain in the same period.

[Last modified April 20, 2007, 01:06:22]