Worst drought ever

[2020hindsight]

Gee I had a Coopers Red tonight - there was a teaspoon of mud in the sediment things are getting serious !
(hek , now I'm gettin sedimental about my coopers!)

As for the definitions of farmers, wheat boards, etc etc, here's one:-
..."she was only the farmer's daughter, but all the cowmen knew 'er" - ahh, guess you had to be there.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200701/s1825797.htm

Temporary weir proposed for Murray River
A temporary weir in the Murray River in South Australia is among a number of proposals outlined by the Federal Government to address Australia's water crisis.

The plan is contained in a report from last year's emergency water summit. If the drought continues and if the South Australian Government agrees, the weir would be built near Wellington on the Murray River.. etc.

 

[macca]

I read in the paper yesterday that the Queensland Govt is to auction MORE water rights to farms to pump from the tributaries of the Darling

They have got to be kidding haven't they ?

The sooner all rivers that flow into interstate waterways are controlled by a federal body the better.

 

[Smurf1976]

Just an update...

Earlier this week the Snowy Hydro scheme was run flat out for a few hours during a period of high electricity demand caused by hot weather. So a bit of water has been released in additon to the now virtually daily operation of the scheme in pumped storage mode (which doesn't release water downstream).

Victorian hydro stations excluding Dartmouth (which is offline due to lack of water) also ran hard during that period whilst Tasmania exported at the limit of the Basslink cable's capacity.

So, a bit of water released from the dams.

Current storage levels of various storages for anyone who is interested. All of these figures are for available storage and exclude dead storage (water which can not be taken out of the lake due to being below the outlet level).

Dartmouth (Murray) - 28%, 1020 GL down 70 GL for the week.
Hume (Murray) - 4%, 78 GL down 17 GL for the week.
Lake Victoria (Murray) - 63%, 327 GL down 14 GL for the week.
Lake Eucumbene (Snowy Hydro) - 14.5%, 634 GL down 1 GL for the week.

Menindee Lakes (NSW) - 10%, 173 GL down 7 GL for the week.
Burrinjuck (NSW) - 29%, 294 GL no change for the week.
Blowering (NSW, part of the Snowy scheme) - 16%, 239 GL down 9 GL.
Eildon (Vic) - 11%, 285 GL down 9 GL for the week.

Tasmanian figures are for energy in storage (GWh) NOT water volume since the latter is of no real relevance in Tas.

System Total - 29.5% - 4293 GWh down 59 GWh for the week.
Great Lake and associated storages - 21%, 1547 GWh down 10 GWh.
Gordon scheme - 33%, 1548 GWh down 28 GWh for the week.
Derwent catchment - 45%, 805 GWh down 19 GWh for the week.
King River power scheme - 64%, 150 GWh down 1 GWh for the week.
Pieman and Henty-Anthony schemes - 72%, 146 GWh no change.
Mersey - Forth - 58%, 97 GWh down 1 GWh for the week.
Lake Margaret (out of use until 2009) - 100% full and spilling. 11 GWh.

Urban water supplies:
Sydney - 35.9%, 928 GL down 10.8 GL for the week
Melbourne - 37.9%, 674 GL down 10.6 GL for the week
Brisbane - 23%, 411 GL
Perth - Data unavailable at present time
Adelaide* - 55%, 109 GL
Canberra - 38%, 616 GL
Hobart* - About 80%, 9 GL

*Adelaide and Hobart source most of their water from the Murray and Derwent Rivers respectively. The level in storage within the urban area is thus not a valid indication of the overall supply situation. The situation with the Murray is well known but Adelaide's consumption is a minor use of the river overall and is thus unlikely to be threatened (assuming irrigation is given lower priority). Hobart effectively uses the discharge of Meadowbank and another 9 upstream power stations with the release of water being determined by power generation requirements - the urban supply (including Zinifex - by far the largest user) uses around 1% of the water released and is thus unlikely to be a problem even with prolonged drought. Present Derwent storages being well above the level that would lead to concern about urban supplies.

 

[Smurf1976]

Canberra - 38%, 616 GL

Error there due to two sets of data from ActewAGL. It's 79 GL in storage not 616 GL.

 

[2020hindsight]

Canberra - It's 79 GL in storage not 616 GL

Smurf, Fascinating post - (maybe increase Basslink capacity - ? - you can supply us all ? lol joking).
Eucumbene seems to be holding up ok? - reluctance to use up last fallback? as I recall 634GL is a bit over 1 Sydney harbour (560GL), and you said Eucumbebe was around that a few months ago as well.

Q. Do you happen to know the normal daily usage for Canberra pls?
and Sydney too I guess (I think Sydney is about 1.5GL / day (?))
I guess what I'm asking is a quick indication of how these storage volumes compare with daily consumption?
thnks 2020

 

[Aussiejeff]

Here's the latest update of the water levels in the two main storages in my neck of the (burning) woods (as of 15 Jan) - courtesy of http://www.waterinfo.nsw.gov.au/sr/StorageSummary.htmt .

As per Smurf's post, these figures are for available useable water only and exclude the dead storage (water which can not be taken out of the lake due to being below the outlet level).

DARTMOUTH [Murray] = 955,905 ML (24.5% of full storage, nett outflow 70,116 ML for the week which leaves 14 weeks supply at current average outflow rate).

HUME [Murray] = 94,631 ML (3%, 19,303 ML nett outflow for the week which leaves 5 weeks supply at current average outflow rate).

Now a question for Smurf....

How serious do you rate the current situation with respect to yesterday's massive power outages in Vic? Authorities are telling us on the radio that there is no cause for concern - it's a bit of a one off etc.... - any thoughts? Also some media talk about releases from Khancoban pondages to increase (maybe 10 x current?) to help support the grid...

Cheers?

Aussiejeff
Wodonga

 

[Happy]

From ABC, February 2, 2007

TORRENTIAL RAIN SWAMPS NORTHERN QLD


Much of northern Queensland is awash today after days of torrential rain from Cairns to Mackay.
Falls of up to 400 millimetres are causing chaos for transport across the north.

Rail services are also interrupted between Mackay and Cairns, with Ingham also flood-bound.
Proserpine police say both the town and nearby Airlie Beach remain isolated by flood waters, with the Bruce Highway cut in many sections and rail services interrupted.
Flights from Sydney and Brisbane to Proserpine and Hamilton Island were cancelled yesterday, with Jetstar passengers unable to be taken to accommodation because of road closures.
About 170 airline passengers were stranded at the Whitsunday Airport, though earlier figures put the number at 230.
A special charter plane from Sydney is being organised to retrieve the stranded passengers.

There is no shortage of water; all northern part of Australia receives from 2 to 3 meters of rainwater every year.

We could build railway link to Darwin (only took 100 years or so to complete), same can be done to get water South.

 

[Knobby22]

Or more sensibly, get the farmers to farm where there is rain!

 

[Seaking]

Or more sensibly, get the farmers to farm where there is rain!

Come on up, the more the merrier.. We have had around 600mm in the last few days and still counting. If only there was a way to push it a bit further south..

 

[nioka]

Come on up, the more the merrier.. We have had around 600mm in the last few days and still counting. If only there was a way to push it a bit further south..

There has,for many years, been schemes proposed to push it further south and it could be done. Just as the snowy was in the days before the greenie revolution. Peak flows could easily be transferred over the ranges all along the coast. Some purple frog or something of that kind would however turn up and get in the way of progress. A greenie believe change means ruin. I believe a change, carefully thought out, is the only way to avoid ruin. The snowy has it's problems but Australia is a much better place because of it.

 

[Seaking]

Don't get me started on weak as piss pollies bowing and scraping to the "anti-life on this planet" people.
A typical case would be the scrapping of the Tully/Millstream project up on the Atherton tablelands a few years ago. Here was a project that would have created 3 dams high up in the ranges to supply a clean green Hydro power station and looking at it now in the context of water supply to the west of the ranges seems like a no brainer.
It was canned because a very small section of land that was part of a world heritage area was going to be inundated and the afore mentioned frog would have to move to higher ground.
Doesn't seem to be an issue when hundreds of families around Gympie are forced to sell there homes and farms and move to higher ground..

 

[Snakey]

Line up farmers for your free golden shower

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

Don't get me started on weak as piss pollies bowing and scraping to the "anti-life on this planet" people.
A typical case would be the scrapping of the Tully/Millstream project up on the Atherton tablelands a few years ago. Here was a project that would have created 3 dams high up in the ranges to supply a clean green Hydro power station and looking at it now in the context of water supply to the west of the ranges seems like a no brainer.
It was canned because a very small section of land that was part of a world heritage area was going to be inundated and the afore mentioned frog would have to move to higher ground.
Doesn't seem to be an issue when hundreds of families around Gympie are forced to sell there homes and farms and move to higher ground..

There is much sense in what you say. Poor old Joh Bjelke must be spinning in his grave watching the "southerners" running out of water. He advocated damming( not damning ) many of the inland rivers in Queensland to capture the xs runoff in the wet season. The Chinese and the Egyptians were doing it thousands of years ago, although they didn't have The Age and the SMH to deal with. they just did it to survive.
Garpal

 

[Smurf1976]

I think the No Dams argument has, at least on a logical basis, lost all merit due to both greenhouse and the drought.

Problem is that it never was a logical debate but an emotional one.

And the greens could do a lot more now with digital photography since there is no longer a need to go up river where the dam will have no effect and take some pretty pictures to swing the urban vote against the dam.

If people researched the history of the No Dams brigade and their claims then they wouldn't stand a chance. Promoting nuclear energy, coal mining in national parks, burning the forests, increasing the risk of urban houses burning (according to CSIRO research). If it pollutes and leaves a legacy far greater than any dam then they've backed it at some point. The trouble is that very few have actually done any research into the track record of these people.

And then there's all that changing of mind whenever anyone proposes to do something that these people have proposed. All of a sudden their "good" idea becomes the focus of the new "anti" campaign.

If it changes the public's attitude towards major engineering works then this drought could turn out to be the best thing that's happened in this country for quite some time. Or perhaps we'll have to wait for an even bigger disaster to change attitudes...

 

[Happy]

Ultrasonic washing machines, waterless toilets and shower system that would recirculate filtered out water with tank only topping up for evaporation some splashing and water that remains on body and hair after shower is finished, would save so much water that we could let our politicians do nothing for another 200 years.

 

[Aussiejeff]

Come on up, the more the merrier.. We have had around 600mm in the last few days and still counting. If only there was a way to push it a bit further south..

Hmmm... thats all well and good if all the farmers are trying to grow is tropical or sub-tropical foods!

I'm pretty sure wheat and grains make up a big proportion of the farming harvest in Oz each year AFAIK. Wheat and grains don't like to be saturated for long periods?

I'm also pretty sure trying to grow wheat and grains would have a lot of drawbacks in the tropics... tropical disease, moulds, massive crop losses due to cyclones, floods etc, etc. Climatologist Mr Flannery is predicting far worse flooding and cyclones in the tropics in coming years, that bodes not well for farmers in those climes?

Geez, how much 'potentially' storable/useable freshwater has flowed out to sea from NE Qld in the past week? Maybe some pollies should pull their heads in and spend a few bucks trying to harness it and pass it down south for the good of the nation as a whole? Apart from spending some CASH (why is spending money on infrastructure so bloody hard for pollies to do?) technically it really wouldn't be that hard would it?

So... maybe moving grain farmers holus-bolus to the tropics is not such a black and white answer? I'm sure some food types could make the shift ok with massive government funding. It will still take a great leap of faith by the farmers that would be "tempted", and do they really have a lot of faith left?

BTW, how many young people today want to take up farming? I think the whole farming sector is in a crisis that is far deeper than the "drought".... the dry is just bringing it all to a head (ie: now more media worthy..)

Interesting times ahead regardless... how many of us really have 'faith' in our political masters to effectively re-set our climate-struggling nation on the 'right' path before it's too late?

Cheers,

AJ

 

[Aussiejeff]

Here's this week's latest update of the water levels in NE Victoria courtesy of http://www.waterinfo.nsw.gov.au/sr/StorageSummary.htmt .

As per usual, these figures are for available useable water only and exclude the dead storage (water which can not be taken out of the lake due to being below the outlet level). The authorities current percentage full figures don't deduct this dead storage, so their figures are always a slight bit more inflated!

DARTMOUTH [Murray] = 844,761 ML [previous week 955,905 ML] = 19.2% of full storage, nett outflow 65,277 ML [previous week 70,116 ML] for the week, which leaves 13 weeks supply at current weekly outflow rate.

HUME [Murray] = 87,048 ML [previous week 94,631 ML] = 2.8% of full storage, nett outflow 18,465 ML for the week, which leaves 5 weeks supply at current weekly outflow rate.


Sip slooooowly.......



Aussiejeff
Wodonga

 

[macca]

I found this scientific report on climate change a good read, very thought provoking

http://www.friendsofscience.org/documents/Christy-Spencer Glob Temp 1978-2003.pdf

 

[Seaking]

Geez, how much 'potentially' storable/useable freshwater has flowed out to sea from NE Qld in the past week? Maybe some pollies should pull their heads in and spend a few bucks trying to harness it and pass it down south for the good of the nation as a whole? Apart from spending some CASH (why is spending money on infrastructure so bloody hard for pollies to do?) technically it really wouldn't be that hard would it?

This is the Burdekin Dam a few days ago...

 

[clowboy]

Awesome Photo Seaking.

I bet it was even more awesome taking it, what with the roar and all.

Thanx for posting it.