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

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

Very interesting times ahead methinks , with already low water levels in many dams and as everyone knows , many rivers are drying up or have already dried. Be prepared for water rationing in the not too distant future.
Weather News - The long road to drought

As far as I am aware the only town in this area that has not had water restrictions for at least the last year is Dubbo - and they were to have a council meeting about it today. Some towns are on severe restrictions - Mendooran I think is still on level 6, which is very stringent. Some towns have looked like running completely out of water, but I don't know of any that are having it trucked in yet, but some towns have the available water so unpalatable that various charities are trucking in bottled water for drinking and cooking.

We haven't seen a really bad drought in white mans history in this country yet. A friend of mine used to work in CRC reef research at JCU years ago when they were doing coral core sampling of the reef out from the Burdekin river. From the sediment stains in the cores they can tell how much flow the Burdekin had during the wet seasons. Apparently the river had not flowed for 10 years around 1770 when Cook was here and that is something unheard of in our history. Even in what we know as drought years there is still flows from the feeder rivers behind the north coast. I remember in my school days being taught how Cook had trouble finding water on the east coast. Hopefully we will never see one as bad as that.

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.

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.

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

Originally Posted by JDNSW

As far as I am aware the only town in this area that has not had water restrictions for at least the last year is Dubbo - and they were to have a council meeting about it today. Some towns are on severe restrictions - Mendooran I think is still on level 6, which is very stringent. Some towns have looked like running completely out of water, but I don't know of any that are having it trucked in yet, but some towns have the available water so unpalatable that various charities are trucking in bottled water for drinking and cooking.

News not long ago was that Walgett was almost out of water and drinking water was being trucked in. There was talk of eventual evacuation.

The Federation drought was on and off with brief periods of almost negligible rainfall for most of twenty years. My grandfather moved to Winton from Charleville when Cobb & Co. won the mail and passenger contract Winton-Boulia-Winton. Cobb relinquished the contact in 1907 as there was insufficient feed available for the horse teams. There was another almost 10 year drought in the 1920's. This was the last stand of the teamsters. No feed and the motor truck took over the freight business. Then again in the 1960's. The infamous Six Year Drought capped by a drop in wool prices knocked the stuffing out of many graziers. Sheep became worthless. A Longreach grazier advertised in Country Life that ha had 3000 sheep he would give to anyone who had grass to put them on and was prepared to come and get them.

In 2011, Walgett population was 2,500. In 2016 census the populatioin was 6,100. A huge increase in 5 years.
Drought problem or population vs infrastructure?

Both perhaps, with population growth exacerbating the problem?

The problem is undoubtedly drought - three is no issue supplying water to the town, regardless of population, as long as the river is flowing. But when it stops flowing........

I am puzzled by the quoted change in population, although I note that one figure refers to the town population, and the other to the shire population, which actually decreased from 6454 in 2011 to 6107 in 2016, so I suspect you are comparing apples to oranges. The shire contains eleven towns and villages spread over more than 22,000 square kilometres.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

The problem is undoubtedly drought - three is no issue supplying water to the town, regardless of population, as long as the river is flowing. But when it stops flowing........

I am puzzled by the quoted change in population, although I note that one figure refers to the town population, and the other to the shire population, which actually decreased from 6454 in 2011 to 6107 in 2016, so I suspect you are comparing apples to oranges. The shire contains eleven towns and villages spread over more than 22,000 square kilometres.

Sorry, John, you're quite correct. The information I had, with the figures, used different references.