Thread: SO WE ARE IN A DROUGHT...YOU AINT SEEN NOTHIN' YET.....

Hi,
The fortifications on the retail establishments are near military grade.
Had a chat to a lass in the info center while we were there. She was busy cleaning the floor and stoped to greet us cheerfully, and was very knowledgeable about the surrounding areas.
The accent had me foxed for a while, till she revealed she was from Kenya.
Most other locals seemed rather sullen.
Not a place I would choose to stay over night.
Cheers

Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

Wikipedia says Walgett town population is 2100, and just more than half are aboriginal.

Last December-January the Namoi and Barwon at Walgett were dry. Any change since then? The bore water is unsuitable for human consumption and considered damaging to crops. There was talk of building a desalination plant to treat the bore water, or trucking in a portable desalination plant.

Quite some time ago a NSW copper told me Walgett was considered a punishment transfer for coppers who had been a bit naughty or offended their superiors. "Send him to Walgett. A couple of years fighting drunk abos will knock the cheek out of him". The town is reputed to have the largest police station and lockup in Country NSW. Is this true?

The rivers are still dry, I believe. What they have done about water is a new bore, and got a new analysis that says the water is suitable for human consumption, although not recommended for your dialysis machine etc. I understand the crime rate in the town is down somewhat.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Yes, I remember that weather event. Just over three millimetres. That was good, laid the dust for a day.

We got a very useful 42mm although up until nearly midnight I thought the 3mm that we had the day before was all were would get. Lupins and canola were dry sown but wheat was all sown into moisture with half it now up and looking forward to some showers next week to finish germination.

Having just recently been in Walgett I was a bit surprised by the 6,000 population figure, but then saw it is the district. I don't think all 11 of them are really towns but I love Australia's 12,000 towns......just don't blink as you go through.

If it has a pub , stop , have a chat , have one beer or perhaps 2 with a countery.

I love this country like I loved my mum.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

The rivers are still dry, I believe. What they have done about water is a new bore, and got a new analysis that says the water is suitable for human consumption, although not recommended for your dialysis machine etc. I understand the crime rate in the town is down somewhat.

Maybe I am a bit cynical and somewhat distrustful of the bureaucracy. The old bore was 360 whatevers of salinity, and the new one is 306 and NSW Health has decreed this is potable just not not for the very young, the sick, the persons with heart and kidney disease and so on. The Australian standard is 180 whatevers of salinity for human consumption. So if you find yourself going to Walgett take your own drinking water. Just like the third world and much of Europe.

Originally Posted by Kaps

It's very damp here in the lower south east.

Wet in central Australia according to Weatherzone Weather News Story >> Weatherzone Mobile

And remember this earlier this month? Weather News, Weather Updates, Breaking Weather - Elders Weather It brought lots of rain. A early taste of winter.

are you suggesting there is no drought?

I think it depends on where you are!

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

are you suggesting there is no drought?

What? No new facts to support your argument. Instead you turn to attacking the messenger.


Brrr... It's cold and wet here. Raining as I type.
Cold blast hits Australia’s east coast, temperatures set to plunge to -4C | Daily Mail Online

All I hear on the news, and on here, is "Australia is in drought".
Well, no, parts of Australia are in drought. Not all.
Droughts are common in Australia. Who hasn't heard of the Federation Drought or the Millennium Drought?
1996 to 2009 we had one here. Parts of NSW and Queensland are currently in one that started about 2013.

Someone sent me this snippet in an email The journals of Captain James Cook and Joseph Banks are peppered with references to the scarcity of water during their four-month visit. "For the whole length of coast which we sailed along there was a sameness to be observed … Barren it may justly be called and in a very high degree … so barren [it] could not be supposed to yield much towards the support of man". The crew was forced to replenish freshwater supplies from standing pools rather than from flowing streams. However, Banks also recognised that Australia was a land of extremes: on a number of occasions he noted erosion that could only have resulted from dramatic floods. "[The country] was most destitute of fresh water, probably that was the reason why so few inhabitants were seen: it seemed to be subject to a severe rainy season, so at least we judged by the deep gullies which we saw had been plainly washed down from the hills of a small height".
So, there was a drought up the east coast of Australia in 1770. There have been lots of droughts in regions of Australia in the past 250 years. Who knows how many there were before then?