Comparisons 1: Less and less

I travelled out to the Darling River for x-mas again this year. The river is in an almost waterless state having stopped running two months earlier this year on 8 September 2006. For those new to the tragedy of the Darling, the river has been a chain of waterholes almost every year in the summer months since 2000. So when the temperatures are up in the 40,s and you would like a swim - there aint much to swim in. This has been compounded by the blue- green algae, a poison which causes skin to itch on contact. Water infested with algae also smells - a combination of dead fish and dead fox - two of the most repugnant odours around!! Most homesteads and the small towns on the Darling have sunk bores next to this iconic and beautiful river, into the sub-riparian water, in order to run a household.

Darling below Wilcannia, December 2006. not even puddles for birds and kangarooos.

Each year since 2001 the dry summer period has become longer. In 2006 after a long, dry summer, the river began to flow again in March over the cooler months. As it stopping flowing again on 8 September there was in effect only six and a half months of a river in the 2006 year.

Darling Below Wilcannia, January 2003

Up-river around the town of Bourke, in southern Qld and northern NSW, cotton is planted in late spring and watered over the summer months. The water in the river system is pumped into huge 'ring tanks', like large paddocks for water storage, ready for the hot growing season required by cotton. Over summer it is also fertililsed and sprayed with insecticides. While the ring tanks are full of water - the river looks like it does in these photos.

Darling River below Wilcannia in October 2002. Still some puddles of water in October.

Two ringtanks on the Barwon River near Mungindi on the Qld NSW border.

This is cotton irrigation courtesy of Google Earth. Notice the wier in the bottom centre of the image. Water is pumped from above the wier and stored in the ringtanks (the two white-ish areas) - leaving the river downstream extremely depleted . Google Earth can reveal lots of whats going on in what you may have thought was farmland with rolling hills and cute furry animals. Welcome to large scale irrigation with lazer graded, treeless plantations. For a sense of scale, the image is 1.7ks across. Large river gums can be seen along the river course.