Barring Massive Rainfall, Oz's Major Cities Confront Shortage In 2 Years

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Barring monsoon-like rains, such adjustments will need to happen on a massive scale if Australia's biggest cities - including Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, and Adelaide - hope to continue having drinking water in just two years' time, experts say. "Too long we have been living like we might live in Europe and not in accordance with dry climate conditions," says Leigh Martin of the Total Environment Center in Sydney. "Most people who balk at reusing sewage water should be educated about recycling."

Australia is not only the driest inhabited continent on earth, but also the greatest consumer of water per capita, according to savewater.com.au. Australians use more than 260,000 gallons of fresh water per person per year, or 24,000 gigaliters - that's enough to fill Sydney harbor, 48 times over. About 70 percent goes to agricultural irrigation, 9 percent to other rural uses, 9 percent to industry, and 12 percent to domestic use.

The outlook is ominous: The Warragamba dam that supplies 80 percent of the water to Sydney and was last full in 1998, wavers around 39 percent, despite some good spring rain this year. Not so long ago, the effects of drought were felt mostly by farmers and bush-dwellers, but now it has come to the backyards of city folk, emptying their swimming pools and drying up their roses.

The water manager in Goulburn says that his town may be out of water by August 2005. "Many gardens are dying, and this year only one public swimming pool will be opened using last year's water," says Matthew O'Rourke. He says that if push comes to shove, they may consider trucking water in from other towns."

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http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1119/p07s01-woap.html