Australian Drought Sparks Debate Over The Direction Of Water Usage

Oct 11, 2002
By EMMA TINKLER, Associated Press Writer

SYDNEY, Australia - As crops and livestock wither and die on Australia's drought-stricken farms, business leaders are clashing with scientists over the best way to protect the nation from such devastating dry spells in the future.


Among ideas floated in recent days is the revival of a scheme dreamed up in the 1930s by the designer of Sydney Harbor Bridge, John Bradfield, to redirect rivers that flow into the sea off Australia's northeast coast and harness their waters to irrigate crops.

"The Bradfield scheme has been around for decades and has not stood up to a great deal of technical examination, but let's not rule out any possibility," Federal Agriculture Minister Warren Truss said Friday.

But water experts and conservationists ridiculed the idea.

"Reversing rivers is a simplistic reaction to a complex set of problems," said Peter Cullen, a prominent scientist who has long studied Australia's rivers.

"We need to learn to live with the landscape, not try to fight against it all the time," he said.

About 93 percent of Australia is in the grip of a drought blamed on the El Nino climate pattern, which brings drier than usual conditions to the Southern Hemisphere nation.

Experts say it is the worst drought in decades, and weather forecasters say there is no rain in sight.

The long dry spell has destroyed crops and seen rivers and reservoirs dry up. Many farmers have been forced to sell off their livestock to avoid them starving to death in parched fields.

The drought is expected to cost billions of dollars in lost farm production.

The federal government has provided some financial assistance to help ranchers through the tough times, and last week the public was also asked to pitch in through a drought relief fund set up by a group of Australian corporate heavyweights.

The Farmhand relief campaign, whose patrons include Australia's richest man, Kerry Packer, hopes to raise 20 million Australian dollars (US$10.8 million) to bail out farmers and develop a plan to "drought-proof" the nation.

One of their main ideas is breathing new life into the Bradfield plan to redirect rivers — although they haven't elaborated on how it would be done or what it would cost.

The proposal has resonance across Australia because the nation has done it once before — starting in 1949 — damming the Snowy River in New South Wales state and channeling its waters to irrigation projects and hydroelectric plants.

However, the government embarked in August on a long-term project to rejuvenate the Snowy after admitting that the ambitious scheme, often lauded as Australia's greatest feat of civil engineering, had almost destroyed the river.

And scientists said Friday the same fate would be in store for any northern river redirected toward southern farms.

"It is easy to put up a stupid view," said Tim Flannery, a prominent author and expert on climate issues.

Flannery, Cullen and other scientists have formed a new group and hope to meet with Prime Minister John Howard over the next few weeks to discuss more realistic solutions to Australia's water problems.

One influential member of the group, water expert John Williams, said drought will never be eradicated in Australia.

"Australia is a dry continent, we will always be moving between droughts and flooding rains," Williams said. "But what you can do is rethink the way we use our land and water."

Some scientists have recommended setting up a national "water bank" allowing the trade of Australia's water, and a licensed system of brokers to manage it.

Williams also said farmers should consider planting more deep-rooted perennial plants, improve irrigation techniques and recycle water used in cities.

Howard agreed Friday to talk to scientists about Australia's water system, acknowledging that "not all proposals are credible."

The chairman of Farmhand, Bob Mansfield, defended it Friday, saying its members had never professed to be water experts.

"The main point we're saying is that if we focus on this as a nation, can we improve things, and our view of the answer to that is definitely yes," he said. "How you do that is really open to a hell of a lot of analysis and discussion."

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