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Flash droughts are becoming more common in Australia. What’s causing them?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/milton-speer-703091">Milton Speer</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/lance-m-leslie-437774">Lance M Leslie</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a> <a href="https://www.drought.gov/what-is-drought/flash-drought">Flash droughts</a> strike suddenly and intensify rapidly. Often the affected areas are in drought after just weeks or a couple of months of well-below-average rainfall. They happen worldwide and are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377274397_Flash_drought_A_state_of_the_science_review?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uRG93bmxvYWQiLCJwYWdlIjoicHVibGljYXRpb24iLCJwcmV2aW91c1BhZ2UiOiJwdWJsaWNhdGlvbiJ9fQ#read">becoming more common</a>, including in Australia, due to global warming. Flash droughts can occur anywhere and at any time of the year. Last year, a flash drought <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-20/dams-dry-up-as-drought-takes-hold-in-hunter-valley/102996364">hit the Upper Hunter</a> region of New South Wales, roughly 300 kilometres north-west of Sydney. These sudden droughts can have devastating economic, social and environmental impacts. The damage is particularly severe for agricultural regions heavily dependent on reliable rain in river catchments. One such region is the Upper Hunter Valley, the subject of our <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/12/4/49">new research</a>. We identified two climate drivers – the <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/about/?bookmark=enso">El Niño Southern Oscillation</a> and <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/about/?bookmark=iod">Indian Ocean Dipole</a>) – that became influential during this drought. In addition, the waning influence of a third climate driver, the <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/about/?bookmark=sam">Southern Annular Mode</a>), would typically bring rain to the east coast. However, this rain did not reach the Upper Hunter. Flash droughts are set to get more common as the world heats up. This year, a flash drought developed over western and central Victoria over just two months. While heavy rain this month in Melbourne ended the drought there, it continues in the west. <h2>What makes a flash drought different?</h2> Flash droughts differ from more slowly developing droughts. The latter result from extended drops in rainfall, such as the <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/drought/">drought affecting</a> parts of southwest Western Australia due to the much shortened winter wet season last year. Flash droughts develop when sudden large drops in rainfall coincide with above-average temperatures. They mostly occur in summer and autumn, as was the case for Asia and Europe in 2022. That year saw flash droughts appear across the northern hemisphere, such as the megadrought affecting China’s <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/acfe21">Yangtze river basin</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352340923000264?via%3Dihub">Spain</a>. The flash drought devastating the Upper Hunter from May to October 2023 developed despite the region being drought-free just one month earlier. At that stage, almost nowhere in NSW showed any sign of an impending drought. <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/586776/original/file-20240409-18-n82npo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/586776/original/file-20240409-18-n82npo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=276&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586776/original/file-20240409-18-n82npo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=276&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586776/original/file-20240409-18-n82npo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=276&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586776/original/file-20240409-18-n82npo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586776/original/file-20240409-18-n82npo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586776/original/file-20240409-18-n82npo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Maps of drought conditions in NSW in April 2023 compared to the next six months" /><figcaption>NSW Department of Primary Industries’ combined drought indicator in April 2023 (a) and combined drought indicator for May–October 2023 (b) show how rapidly a flash drought developed in the Upper Hunter region. Milton Speer et al 2024, using NSW Department of Primary Industries' data</figcaption></figure> The flash drought greatly affected agricultural production in the Upper Hunter region, due to the region’s reliance on water from rivers. Low rainfall in river catchments means less water for crops and pasture. It also dries up drinking water supplies. Flash droughts are characterised by abrupt periods of low rainfall leading to rapid drought onset, particularly when accompanied by above-average temperatures. Higher temperatures increase both the evaporation of water from the soil and transpiration from plants (evapotranspiration). This causes soil moisture to drop rapidly. <h2>The Upper Hunter drought is part of a trend</h2> Flash droughts will be more common in the future. That’s because higher temperatures will more often coincide with dry conditions, as relative humidity falls <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377274397_Flash_drought_A_state_of_the_science_review_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uRG93bmxvYWQiLCJwYWdlIjoicHVibGljYXRpb24iLCJwcmV2aW91c1BhZ2UiOiJwdWJsaWNhdGlvbiJ9fQ#read">across many parts</a> of Australia and globally. Climate change is <a href="https://climate.ec.europa.eu/climate-change/consequences-climate-change_en">linked to</a> shorter, heavier bursts of rain followed by longer periods of little rainfall. <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/586777/original/file-20240409-16-n82npo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/586777/original/file-20240409-16-n82npo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=196&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586777/original/file-20240409-16-n82npo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=196&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586777/original/file-20240409-16-n82npo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=196&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586777/original/file-20240409-16-n82npo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586777/original/file-20240409-16-n82npo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586777/original/file-20240409-16-n82npo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Map of Upper Hunter region showing drought indicators in December 2023" /><figcaption>Intense drought conditions continued in the Upper Hunter in December 2023. Milton Speer et al 2024</figcaption></figure> <figure class="align-right "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/586778/original/file-20240409-16-www3a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/586778/original/file-20240409-16-www3a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586778/original/file-20240409-16-www3a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586778/original/file-20240409-16-www3a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586778/original/file-20240409-16-www3a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586778/original/file-20240409-16-www3a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586778/original/file-20240409-16-www3a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Map of NSW showing average temperature ranges recorded for May–October 2023." /><figcaption>The sharp drop in rainfall coincided with the Upper Hunter’s highest average maximum temperatures on record for May–October 2023. Milton Speer et al 2024</figcaption></figure> In south-east and south-west Australia, flash droughts can also occur in winter. In May 2023 rainfall over south-east Australia dropped abruptly. The much lower rainfall continued until November in the Upper Hunter. Over this same period, mean maximum temperatures in the region were the highest on record, increasing the loss of moisture through evapotranspiration. The result was a flash drought. While flash droughts occurred in other parts of south-east Australia, we focused on the Upper Hunter as it remained in drought the longest. <h2>What were the climate drivers of this drought?</h2> We used machine-learning techniques to identify the key climate drivers of the drought. We found the dominant driver of the flash drought was global warming, modulated by the phases of the three major climate drivers in our region, the El Niño Southern Oscillation, Indian Ocean Dipole and the Southern Annular Mode. From 2020 to 2022, the first two drivers became favourable for rain in the Upper Hunter in late winter through spring, before changing phase to one supporting drought over south-east Australia. Meanwhile, the Southern Annular Mode remained mostly positive, meaning rain-bearing westerly winds and weather fronts had moved to middle and higher latitudes of the southern hemisphere, away from Australia’s south-east coast. Combined, the impact of global warming with the three climate drivers made rainfall much more variable. The net result was an atmospheric environment highly conducive to a flash drought appearing anywhere in south-east Australia. <figure class="align-right zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/586248/original/file-20240405-16-ti5j3m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/586248/original/file-20240405-16-ti5j3m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/586248/original/file-20240405-16-ti5j3m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586248/original/file-20240405-16-ti5j3m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586248/original/file-20240405-16-ti5j3m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586248/original/file-20240405-16-ti5j3m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586248/original/file-20240405-16-ti5j3m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/586248/original/file-20240405-16-ti5j3m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Map of Upper Hunter region showing drought indicators in December 2023" /></a><figcaption>Intense drought conditions continued in the Upper Hunter in December 2023. Milton Speer et al 2024</figcaption></figure> <h2>Victoria, too, fits the global warming pattern</h2> As for the flash drought that developed in early 2024 over western and central Victoria, including Melbourne, it continues in parts of <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/drought/#msdynttrid=_ytsVsw1a3IFZ7xGCnQz8mw1Gum_n_0JUdQyt2hUVCo">western Victoria</a>. The flash drought followed very high January rainfall (top 5% of records) dropping rapidly to very low rainfall (bottom 5%) in February and March. It was the <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/maps/rainfall/?variable=rainfall&map=decile&period=2month&region=vc&year=2024&month=03&day=31">driest February-March period</a> on record for Melbourne and south-west Victoria. At the beginning of April, a storm front <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/severe-weather-storm-warning-for-victoria-and-melbourne-easter-monday/41d5d383-b70d-4d36-a649-38632bc607de">brought heavy rainfall</a> over an 18-hour period to central Victoria, including Melbourne. The rains ended the flash drought in these areas, but it continues in parts of western Victoria, which missed out on the rain. The pattern of the 2024 flash drought in Victoria typifies the increasing trend under global warming of long dry periods, interspersed by short, heavy rainfall events. <img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/227052/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/milton-speer-703091">Milton Speer</a>, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/lance-m-leslie-437774">Lance M Leslie</a>, Professor, School of Mathematical And Physical Sciences, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/flash-droughts-are-becoming-more-common-in-australia-whats-causing-them-227052">original article</a>.

Domestic Travel

Five easy ways to use less water at home – and not just in a drought

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/niko-wanders-1234321">Niko Wanders</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/utrecht-university-1354">Utrecht University</a> With so much of the world suffering from drought, you might think your ability to help is minimal. But when you consider the average person in the UK uses around <a href="https://www.water.org.uk/news-item/vast-majority-of-brits-have-no-idea-how-much-water-they-use-each-day/">142 litres of water a day</a>, it’s easy to see how small changes to your routine can add up. More than half of the water that is extracted from rivers, streams and aquifers in the UK feeds the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/env15-water-abstraction-tables">public water supply</a>. These abstractions, as they’re called, worsen drought conditions by draining local waterways, depriving vegetation, fish and other aquatic life of the water they need to survive droughts. Filling paddling pools to cool off, taking multiple showers each day to stay clean, watering the garden to revive wilting plants – all these extra activities contribute to a sharp increase in public water use on hot and dry days. And these impacts can endure for months, as freshwater systems need a lot of additional rainfall to recover from droughts. If each person can reduce their water use during a drought, it would significantly benefit the natural world in its recovery. Here are five things you can do, starting today. <h2>1. Shower less</h2> Most of the water you use is <a href="https://www.water.org.uk/news-item/vast-majority-of-brits-have-no-idea-how-much-water-they-use-each-day/">in the shower</a>. For every minute you’re under the shower head (depending on how powerful it is), around 10 litres of water drains away. Since most people shower for <a href="https://www.mirashowers.co.uk/blog/trends/revealed-what-brits-are-really-getting-up-to-in-the-bathroom-1/#:%7E:text=Most%20Brits%20(62%25)%20bathe,latest%20UK%20shower%20habits%20survey.">an average of seven minutes</a>, half of your daily water use takes place first thing in the morning. Turning off the shower while shampooing your hair or applying shower gel can help conserve water, as can shortening the length of your shower overall. Be sure not to switch to a bath though – the average soak in the tub uses <a href="https://www.water.org.uk/news-item/vast-majority-of-brits-have-no-idea-how-much-water-they-use-each-day/">around 80 litres of water</a>. <h2>2. Use rainwater in the garden</h2> <figure class="align-right zoomable"><figcaption></figcaption></figure> During a dry spell, the average gardener can use <a href="https://www.southwestwater.co.uk/siteassets/documents/uwu-0618-web-version.pdf">hundreds of litres</a> of water to keep their plants hydrated. Some people will use a watering can (good), others might leave a sprinkler on all day (bad). Most use drinking water, which is a waste – plants are happy with rain water. Add a water butt that collects the rain which falls on your roof and use it for the garden. To find out how to install one, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jk0lstsu5o">watch this</a>. <h2>3. Use the short flush</h2> Per flush, your toilet uses about <a href="https://www.water.org.uk/news-item/vast-majority-of-brits-have-no-idea-how-much-water-they-use-each-day/">5 litres of water</a>, and up to 10 litres in older models. If available, use the short flush to significantly reduce how much water is wasted. <h2>4. Cut back on car washing</h2> If you need to wash your car, do it the old-fashioned way with a bucket and soap rather than hosing it down. The water contained in a bucket (<a href="https://www.water.org.uk/news-item/vast-majority-of-brits-have-no-idea-how-much-water-they-use-each-day/">roughly 30 litres</a>) is significantly less than the average that flows through a hose (around <a href="https://www.southwestwater.co.uk/siteassets/documents/uwu-0618-web-version.pdf">15 litres per minute</a>). Better yet, avoid washing your car entirely during a drought. <h2>5. Reuse water</h2> If you’re washing vegetables, you could collect the water in a bowl in the sink and later give it to the plants in your house or outside. While you’re waiting for warm water to come out of a tap, use the cold to fill the kettle. Close the tap while you’re lathering your hands with soap or brushing your teeth. Though these are only small savings, they do make a difference over time. Inflatable pools are lovely for cooling down on the hottest days. A cleaning pump can filter the water and recycle it without you needing to use more water to keep the pool clean. <h2>Save water, save money</h2> All these tips can significantly reduce your water use and combat the effects of drought on the environment. They can also save you money. If you’re able to renovate your home, it’s worth installing a system for collecting rain water which, combined with a pump, can flush toilets. In Belgium, for example, it is common practice to have such a system installed (effectively, a large underground water butt) in newly built houses. Most people would struggle to afford these kinds of measures, and so drought-proofing homes and communities should be part of the effort to adapt countries to the extreme weather expected in a rapidly warming world. Image credit: Shutterstock <hr /> <figure class="align-right "><figcaption></figcaption></figure> Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like? <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeTop">Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.</a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeBottom">Join the 10,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.</a><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187885/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <hr /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/niko-wanders-1234321">Niko Wanders</a>, Assistant Professor in Hydrological Extremes, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/utrecht-university-1354">Utrecht University</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-easy-ways-to-use-less-water-at-home-and-not-just-in-a-drought-187885">original article</a>.

Home & Garden

Record-busting droughts are uncovering long-lost relics

As much of the Northern Hemisphere experiences record-breaking droughts, the drying up of lakes, rivers and other bodies of water has exposed more than just dirt and debris. In Spain, a prehistoric circle of stones dubbed “Spanish Stonehenge” has emerged in a drying dam in the central province of Caceres. Since it was first discovered in 1926 and was subsequently covered by floodwaters, the stones have only been visible four times. Elsewhere in Europe, 20 German WWII warships have been exposed, sunken in the Danube River near Serbia’s river port town of Prahovo. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/09/ww2-ships.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> Twenty Nazi warships emerged as the Danue River continues to dry up. Image: Reuters (YouTube) The Nazi German ships were among hundreds that sailed up the Danube while retreating from Soviet forces in 1944, and still hamper traffic traversing the river when water levels are low. In late July, a previously submerged WWII bomb weighing a whopping 450kg was discovered in the River Po, as the country declared a state of emergency in areas around the lengthy river as a result of the low water levels. The ageing explosive was defused in a controlled explosion by military experts earlier this month near the village of Bogo Virgilio, but not before about 3,000 people were evacuated from the area, per <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/20/europes-drought-exposes-wwii-ships-bombs-and-prehistoric-stones" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Al Jazeera</a>. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/09/bomb1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> Military experts were deployed to detonate a 450kg bomb uncovered in Italy’s Polo River. Image: Global News (YouTube) Meanwhile, droughts in the US have exposed ancient footprints belonging to dinosaurs, as well as victims of suspected mob killings. In early July, the skeletal remains of a man who was shot in the head, stuffed in a barrel and tossed into Lake Mead, located outside the city of Las Vegas, were uncovered, with experts believing he would have died in the 1980s. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/09/dino-tracks.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> Dinosaur tracks believed to be 113 million years old were found in a state park in Texas. Image: Texas Park and Wildlife Department The lake, along with the Hudson River, provides most of southern Nevada’s drinking water and has reached its lowest point since it was filled 90 years ago, as reported by <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/priyashukla/2022/05/03/drought-reveals-homicide-victim-as-lake-mead-recedes/?sh=6d6c198f3943" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Forbes</a>. A discovery of Jurassic proportions was made at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Texas, after footprints believed to date back 113 million years were found. The tracks belong to the Arocanthosaurus, a bipedal dinosaur with three toes and a claw on each limb, per <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/science/dinosaur-tracks-texas-drought.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a>. Others that were also uncovered belong to Sauroposeidon proteles, a 15-metre-long dinosaur with a long neck and small head. As the fierce weather continues, experts believe more of these kinds of finds will emerge. Images: Texas Park and Wildlife Department / Reuters (YouTube)

International Travel

European droughts could jeopardise cruising’s future

With much of Europe and the UK recording devastating droughts, plummeting water levels in rivers and lakes are posing a threat to trade, industry and another sector: tourism. According to the European Union’s European Drought Observatory, around 63 percent of the land across the EU and UK, while the UK declared a drought in eight out of 14 areas shortly after. One body of water hit hard by the hot and drying weather is the Rhine, an important trade route and a popular inclusion on cruise itineraries. A critical juncture of the river at the German town of Kaub recorded water levels of just 36 centimetres over the weekend, sinking below the level at which commercial shipping becomes unprofitable. Clare Weeden, a principal lecturer in tourism and marketing at the University of Brighton, told <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/europe-drought-river-cruising/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a> that this isn’t news, with low levels on the Rhine and Daube rivers seeing cruise passengers bussed from one destination to another over the past five or six years. "Anybody who operates river cruise boats would have had an understanding of this because of the way the climate has changed in the last 20 years," she explained. But, with the coinciding rise of river cruising’s popularity with the climate crisis, Weeden said Europe’s traditional cruising is “definitely going to suffer”. The situation is similar across Europe, with parts of France’s famed Loire river drying up almost completely and some canals being closed. As for the Danube, emergency dredging is taking place on the lower river, through Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria, while the water levels in the Hungary stretch have meant that trade vessels, averaging 1600 tonnes, can only navigate the river without cargo. While some cruises have been unaffected, passengers on some lines have been unable to travel to Budapest by water, instead being bussed or flown from other destinations. In the UK, the source of the Thames has moved downriver by five miles (or eight metres), a first in the country’s history. For those with tours lined up, don’t cancel just yet. Helen Prochilo of Promal Vacations suggests those who have booked their trips make regular calls to their river cruise line to check the conditions. For visitors still considering booking a tour, Prochilo advises to book earlier in the season or simply wait until next year. Susanne Etti, an environmental impact manager at Intrepid Travel, has called this year’s summer “a wake-up call for the entire sector”. “Travel has a front row seat as climate change unfolds in the destinations we visit and, if this becomes a standard summer, it will massively impact our industry,” Etti said. “Unless urgent action is taken on climate change, the reality is that extreme weather is going to have an impact on the destinations and communities we visit.” Image: Getty Images

Cruising

Five easy ways to use less water at home – and not just in a drought

With so much of the world suffering from drought, you might think your ability to help is minimal. But when you consider the average person in the UK uses around <a href="https://www.water.org.uk/news-item/vast-majority-of-brits-have-no-idea-how-much-water-they-use-each-day/">142 litres of water a day</a>, it’s easy to see how small changes to your routine can add up. More than half of the water that is extracted from rivers, streams and aquifers in the UK feeds the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/env15-water-abstraction-tables">public water supply</a>. These abstractions, as they’re called, worsen drought conditions by draining local waterways, depriving vegetation, fish and other aquatic life of the water they need to survive droughts. Filling paddling pools to cool off, taking multiple showers each day to stay clean, watering the garden to revive wilting plants – all these extra activities contribute to a sharp increase in public water use on hot and dry days. And these impacts can endure for months, as freshwater systems need a lot of additional rainfall to recover from droughts. If each person can reduce their water use during a drought, it would significantly benefit the natural world in its recovery. Here are five things you can do, starting today. <h2>1. Shower less</h2> Most of the water you use is <a href="https://www.water.org.uk/news-item/vast-majority-of-brits-have-no-idea-how-much-water-they-use-each-day/">in the shower</a>. For every minute you’re under the shower head (depending on how powerful it is), around 10 litres of water drains away. Since most people shower for <a href="https://www.mirashowers.co.uk/blog/trends/revealed-what-brits-are-really-getting-up-to-in-the-bathroom-1/#:%7E:text=Most%20Brits%20(62%25)%20bathe,latest%20UK%20shower%20habits%20survey.">an average of seven minutes</a>, half of your daily water use takes place first thing in the morning. Turning off the shower while shampooing your hair or applying shower gel can help conserve water, as can shortening the length of your shower overall. Be sure not to switch to a bath though – the average soak in the tub uses <a href="https://www.water.org.uk/news-item/vast-majority-of-brits-have-no-idea-how-much-water-they-use-each-day/">around 80 litres of water</a>. <h2>2. Use rainwater in the garden</h2> During a dry spell, the average gardener can use <a href="https://www.southwestwater.co.uk/siteassets/documents/uwu-0618-web-version.pdf">hundreds of litres</a> of water to keep their plants hydrated. Some people will use a watering can (good), others might leave a sprinkler on all day (bad). Most use drinking water, which is a waste – plants are happy with rain water. Add a water butt that collects the rain which falls on your roof and use it for the garden. To find out how to install one, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jk0lstsu5o">watch this</a>. <h2>3. Use the short flush</h2> Per flush, your toilet uses about <a href="https://www.water.org.uk/news-item/vast-majority-of-brits-have-no-idea-how-much-water-they-use-each-day/">5 litres of water</a>, and up to 10 litres in older models. If available, use the short flush to significantly reduce how much water is wasted. <h2>4. Cut back on car washing</h2> If you need to wash your car, do it the old-fashioned way with a bucket and soap rather than hosing it down. The water contained in a bucket (<a href="https://www.water.org.uk/news-item/vast-majority-of-brits-have-no-idea-how-much-water-they-use-each-day/">roughly 30 litres</a>) is significantly less than the average that flows through a hose (around <a href="https://www.southwestwater.co.uk/siteassets/documents/uwu-0618-web-version.pdf">15 litres per minute</a>). Better yet, avoid washing your car entirely during a drought. <h2>5. Reuse water</h2> If you’re washing vegetables, you could collect the water in a bowl in the sink and later give it to the plants in your house or outside. While you’re waiting for warm water to come out of a tap, use the cold to fill the kettle. Close the tap while you’re lathering your hands with soap or brushing your teeth. Though these are only small savings, they do make a difference over time. Inflatable pools are lovely for cooling down on the hottest days. A cleaning pump can filter the water and recycle it without you needing to use more water to keep the pool clean. <h2>Save water, save money</h2> All these tips can significantly reduce your water use and combat the effects of drought on the environment. They can also save you money. If you’re able to renovate your home, it’s worth installing a system for collecting rain water which, combined with a pump, can flush toilets. In Belgium, for example, it is common practice to have such a system installed (effectively, a large underground water butt) in newly built houses. Most people would struggle to afford these kinds of measures, and so drought-proofing homes and communities should be part of the effort to adapt countries to the extreme weather expected in a rapidly warming world. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-easy-ways-to-use-less-water-at-home-and-not-just-in-a-drought-187885" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Home & Garden

Mayan city collapse over 500 years ago linked to drought and social instability

The Mayan civilisation was among the most advanced on Earth, based in Central America. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing even before the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century. Mayapán, 40km to the south-east of the modern city of Merida, in Mexico, was the political and cultural capital of the Maya in the Yucatán peninsula with thousands of buildings and a population of 15,000-17,000 during the city’s peak. Emerging in 1200CE, the city was eventually abandoned in 1450CE after its despotic rulers from the house of Cocom were overthrown. New research published in Nature Communications suggests that the civil unrest which led to the collapse of Mayapán emerged as a result of climatic changes. The interdisciplinary team included researchers from Australia’s University of New South Wales, the University of California in the US and the University of Cambridge in the UK. Their findings shed light on the impact of changes in the climate on societies, making use of records from the city from before the Colonial Period. A prolonged drought, the authors suggest, lasting between 1400 and 1450CE escalated existing social tensions in the city. The effects of the drought on food availability in particular provided the impetus for the civil conflict which eventually led to the city’s abandonment. “Our data indicate that institutional collapse occurred in the environmental context of drought and conflict within the city,” the authors explain. “Vulnerabilities of this coupled natural-social system existed because of the strong reliance on rain-fed maize agriculture, lack of centralised long-term grain storage, minimal opportunities for irrigation, and a sociopolitical system led by elite families with competing political interests, from different parts of the Yucatán Peninsula. We argue that long-term, climate-caused hardships provoked restive tensions that were fanned by political actors whose actions ultimately culminated in political violence more than once at Mayapán.” In addition to looking at the climate (political and environmental) during the collapse of Mayapán, the researchers also looked directly at human remains found in the ancient city. “Direct radiocarbon dates and mitochrondrial DNA sequences from the remains of individuals in the city’s final mass grave suggest they were family members of the heads of state (the Cocoms), ironically and meaningfully laid to rest at the base of the Temple of K’uk’ulkan, the iconic principal temple and ritual centtr of Mayapán.” The winds of revolution, the authors argue, were fanned by political actors while conditions were worsening for the city’s inhabitants. Chief leaders of the change in political power were the members of the Xiu family house. “Our results suggest that rivalry among governing elites at Mayapán materialised into action in the context of more frequent and/or severe droughts. Comparatively, such climate challenges present a range of opportunities for human actors, from the development of innovative adaptations to the stoking of revolution. These climate hardships and ensuing food shortages would have undermined the city’s economic base and enabled the Xiu-led usurpation. The unifying and resilient institutions that held the Mayapán state together until approximately 1450CE were ultimately eroded, the confederation dissolved, and the city largely abandoned,” they explain. But the researchers also note the ability of the Maya to persist despite their difficulties. Those that abandoned Mayapan went to other cities, towns and villages. “Yet economic, social, and religious traditions persevered until the onset of Spanish rule, despite the reduced scale of political units, attesting to a resilient system of human-environmental adaptations.” Such stories from human history provide food for thought as we face our own self-inflicted climate crisis which is exacerbating hardship for many millions around the world. The authors conclude: “Our transdisciplinary work highlights the importance of understanding the complex relationships between natural and social systems, especially when evaluating the role of climate change in exacerbating internal political tensions and factionalism in areas where drought leads to food insecurity.” This article originally appeared on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/mayan-city-collapse-drought/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by Evrim Yazgin. Image: Shutterstock

Travel Trouble

Man sent to prison for defrauding desperate farmers

In the midst of the crippling drought affecting many parts of the nation, scammers have been preying on the vulnerability of who are desperate to feed their livestock. And recently, a man from Parkes was sent to prison for his unscrupulous act of <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/criminal/offences/fraud-charges/fraud-s192e/">dishonestly obtaining a financial gain by deception.</a> The story so far Stephen John Swindle (his real name) from Parkes had a business masquerading the sale of hay and grain to farmers, but simply did not deliver it after receiving payment. Mr Swindle was imprisoned last week for defrauding New South Wales farmers of more than $80,000 in a scam that lasted more than two years, after being found guilty of 10 counts of <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/criminal/legislation/crimes-act/fraud/">fraud under section 192E of the Crimes Act 1900</a>. During Mr Swindle’s sentencing hearing, the presiding magistrate described his actions as reprehensible, in light of the tough drought affecting our farmers, and labelled the defendant as “lying, dishonest and violent”. According to police papers, several vulnerable farmers purchased food for their livestock through Mr Swindle’s business. Some of the orders were partially delivered, while others were not delivered at all. Mr Swindle lied to his customers about the whereabouts of the delivery trucks, and spent his ill-gotten gains on trips to theme parks, accommodation on the NSW South Coast, sports betting, groceries and liquor. Mr Swindle has been sentenced to a total of three years and six months behind bars and will be eligible for parole in November 2020. Not the first case Earlier this year, a Villawood man was also charged 13 fraud charges arising from a social media scam which allegedly advertised feed for livestock, which according to police was never delivered. The man allegedly targeted farmers in the Hunter Valley region, fleecing them to the tune of $40,000. Police say that, unfortunately, fraudulent schemes of this type are on the rise, and everyone needs to be vigilant. The offence of fraud in NSW Fraud is a general term used to describe a dishonest act which deceives another for financial gain, or another’s financial loss. The general offence of fraud carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison where the charge comes before the District Court, or two years for each count up to a maximum of five years where the case remains in the Local Court. The severity of the sentence for a person who is found guilty, or pleads guilty, depends on a number of factors, including the value of the funds or property involved, the length of time it was conducted, the sophistication of the enterprise as well as the personal characteristics of the defendant, including whether he or she has previous convictions, whether a guilty plea was entered, whether the money was repaid, whether any underlying issues have been addressed (such as gambling or drug addiction) and any demonstrated remorse. Section 192E of the Crimes Act provides that: (1) A person who, by any deception, dishonestly– (a) obtains property belonging to another, or (b) obtains any financial advantage or causes any financial disadvantage, is guilty of the offence of fraud. Maximum penalty–Imprisonment for 10 years. (2) A person’s obtaining of property belonging to another may be dishonest even if the person is willing to pay for the property. (3) A person may be convicted of the offence of fraud involving all or any part of a general deficiency in money or other property even though the deficiency is made up of any number of particular sums of money or items of other property that were obtained over a period of time. (4) A conviction for the offence of fraud is an alternative verdict to a charge for the offence of <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/criminal/offences/larceny-stealing-theft/">larceny</a>, or any offence that includes larceny, and a conviction for the offence of larceny, or any offence that includes larceny, is an alternative verdict to a charge for the offence of fraud. Written by Sonia Hickey and Ugur Nedim. Republished with permission of <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/man-sent-to-prison-for-defrauding-desperate-farmers/">Sydney Criminal Lawyers.</a>

Legal

Australia's drought relief package misses the bigger point

There are two basic components to the Morrison government’s latest A$1 billion package response to the drought affecting large parts eastern Australia. One part involves extra subsidies to farmers and farm-related business. The other involves measures to create or upgrade infrastructure in rural areas. Unfortunately, most funds will be misdirected and the response is unlikely to secure the long-term prosperity of regional and rural communities. This is a quick fix to a political problem, appealing to an important constituency. But it misses the point, again, about the emerging economics of drought. Hitting the political target The bulk of the A$1 billion package is allocated to a loan fund. The terms of the ten-year loans are more generous than what has been offered in the past. They are now interest-free for two years, with no requirement to start paying back the principal till the sixth year. Farmers will be able to borrow up to A$2 million. In addition, loans of up to A$500,000 will also be available to small businesses in drought-affected towns. Because recipients are not having to pay the full cost, these loans are in practice a form of subsidy. Subsidies are used by government to make more people undertake an activity than would otherwise be the case. In this case the government is offering a subsidy to keep farmers and small businesses owners doing what they’ve been doing, even though from an economic point of view this might not be very wise at all. The question that should be asked is: “do we want more or fewer people to be involved in a farming activity that is vulnerable to drought?” Most farming in Australia is completely reliant on rainfed crops and pastures. Rainfall is already highly variable. All the indicators from climate science is that rain will be even more unreliable in the future. In addition, the agricultural industries currently drought affected are not just at the whims of rainfall. These industries are constantly changing and being affected by new technologies and market forces. For most agricultural produce the key market force is price. Sure, some farms and farmers can carve out niche markets, but most farm businesses depend on producing at lowest cost. Increasingly, the farms that survive in a highly competitive global environment do this by exploiting economies of scale. Big farms are thus more profitable than small ones in the good times (such as when it rains); and during the tough times (such as during drought) they have more resources and deeper reserves to ride it out. Ultimately, this means successful farms are continually getting bigger and small farmers are getting squeezed out. The data also support the view that the farmers who survive and are simultaneously exposed to drought <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8489.12195">ultimately become even more profitable</a>, because of what they learnt about managing in a difficult environment. This is not to argue drought is a good thing for any farm, but it does raise a serious question about any government policy that effectively encourages more people to keep doing something when global and technological forces would point to it being unsustainable. So what’s the point? The second component of the Morrison government’s relief response involves directing about A$500 million from existing regional infrastructure funds into building roads and other things into affected communities. While many will welcome this on top of the the extension of loans to small business in country towns, the policy detracts from the serious questions that confront rural and regional communities. The economics of agriculture has flow-on effects to towns, but it would be wrong to think all are impacted in the same way. As a general rule, when farmers sell up, they tend to leave from the small communities first. The upshot is that small communities get smaller, older and poorer as those least mobile are left behind. These people also generally require more, not less, public support. Mid-size communities tend to level out, while continuing to age. Large regional centres tend to grow and prosper. The point is that each community requires different things from government. Genuine public goods like roads, health services and education are desperately needed and undersupplied in many cases. Providing cash to a few select businesses and grading a gravel road in this situation belies the complexity of the long-term challenges and fails to address serious issues. An elderly retiree in a rural town might well ask why their local road or bridge is only upgraded during a drought. Surely, government should focus on providing legitimate public goods for the long term, regardless of the weather.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126583/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/lin-crase-9904">Lin Crase</a>, Professor of Economics and Head of School, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-south-australia-1180">University of South Australia</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-drought-relief-package-hits-the-political-spot-but-misses-the-bigger-point-126583">original article</a>.

Money & Banking

Drought-ravaged town runs out of water after company takes thousands of litres

A town that has been ravaged by drought has run out of water just weeks after a Chinese company was given permission to run a commercial water extraction facility in the area. Stanthorpe in Queensland’s Southern Downs is now dependent on 42 truckloads of water a day that’s brought in from a dam that’s 60 kilometres away. The local dam for Stanthorpe, town of just 5,000, has dipped to 11 per cent of capacity, with those living in the area limited to 80 litres of water per person a day. The Southern Downs Regional Council has tightened water restrictions last month just one day after approving the development of a mining operation 40 kilometres away. The “full-time water carting” from the dam consists of 1.3 megalitres per day and mayor Tracy Dobie says that the operation is the biggest of its kind by Australian local government. “We've now commenced full trucking of water. There's 14 trucks doing three trips a day,'” she <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.facebook.com/MYSDRC/videos/552971542098483/?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARDcXWPDe0s0EH9mn-pZ3Gv2EYyDt1W7cMdRRAghI-Md33TSStLUPlSWrvCKl_HIhF29fqpJ4mGdCQQdokVuz5b08ROEMqegSat384fT0CQXvGbDkJnLzNO9mzvhwSbCcMuIz-p7GFid-o0Ok2ZviOZG32xr6HUuNWWcIAJ_rrhz5yvEedmUl23hj00PV59GqTxZipMgWshsdyYbOiDepYSUI70XKdFlTuI8_5WluNAXgBCj23PiF_kvrfkny-aj0RApeta0Sms5qK2xfak06-xechWLhjX3OLEmhxXrXdf_mRIsHI44i3OMpmQELdVaPkEeUqvaLkEBEhorR2J9Ele98kkmebPEKAxrDg&__tn__=-R" target="_blank">said</a>. “Council promised the community we would not run out of water. “The initial stages of water carting went extremely well and without incident. We will now move to full-time water carting to provide water to the Stanthorpe Region.” <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FMYSDRC%2Fphotos%2Fa.763794183646647%2F3896869843672383%2F%3Ftype%3D3&width=500" width="500" height="586" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> The 80-litre water restriction will remain in place despite the water being imported from the dam. The issue within the town was highlighted further after a farmer was robbed of 70,000 of drinking water by his neighbour. Andrew Todd, 61, had thieves target his property three times over five months, each time stealing a mass amount of water. Todd explained to <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/crime-and-justice/desperate-drought-communities-stealing-water/news-story/65a9b1bbe1e68bf0b4f7c2c2e7c4e830" target="_blank">The Courier Mail</a> that he feels sympathetic for his neighbours. “It's just very sad. You've got to lock your gates now,” Todd said.

Travel Trouble

“Tough times”: Here's how much fresh food prices will leap due to bushfires and drought

Aussies can expect price hikes for groceries as farmers and industries continue to struggle with ongoing drought and bushfires. At a press conference in Canberra on Tuesday, Minister for Agriculture Bridget McKenzie warned that shoppers will have to pay more for fresh food staples, including fruits, vegetables, meat and milk. “In terms of prices for food, you might have seen reporting that supermarkets are letting the Australian public know that they’ll have to pay more for their red meat. Yes, you will,” McKenzie said. “That they’ll have to pay more for their fruit and vegetables because of the bushfires and the drought. Yes, you will. “The supermarkets also need to let the Australian public know that, because of the bushfires and the drought, you will have to pay more for your milk. Processors are doing the right thing by farmers by actually paying milk cheques when in many cases they’re not getting the product. “Tough times such as we’re experiencing now, drought and bushfire, are severely impacting the costs of our farmers and now our processors in the supply chain, so the other end of the supply chain needs to stump up.” There are 19,000 “primary producers, farmers, fishers and foresters” within the impacted areas, she said. Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that farmers affected by bushfires will be eligible for grants of up to $75,000, with the money taken from the $2 billion bushfire recovery fund. The PM also warned that Australia’s hot and dry conditions will continue for several months. The vegetable industry’s representative body AUSVEG forecast that vegetable prices will soar by up to 50 per cent due to destroyed crops and added transport costs from highway closures. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see prices moving up between 20 per cent and 50 per cent,” chief executive James Whiteside told the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-14/vegetable-prices-in-australia-set-to-rise-fire-drought-impact/11866038">ABC</a>. “Those sort of larger increases are unlikely to be sustainable, but consumers will see a range of higher prices across pretty well everything.”

Food & Wine

The $85 million plan to desalinate water for drought relief

The deal to crank up Adelaide’s desalination plant to make more water available to farmers in the drought-stricken Murray-Darling Basin makes no sense. It involves the federal government paying the South Australian government up to A$100 million to produce more water for Adelaide using the little-used desalination plant. The plant was commissioned in 2007 at the height of the millennium drought. It can produce up to 100 gigalitres of water a year – enough to fill 40,000 olympic sized swimming pools. But has been used sparingly, operating at its minimum mode of 8 gigalitres a year, because of the expense of turning seawater into freshwater.<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" class="license"></a> Adelaide has continued to mostly draw water from local reservoirs and the River Murray, which on average has supplied about half the city’s water (sometimes much more). But with federal funding, the desal plant will be turned on full bore. This will free up 100 gigalitres of water from the Murray River allocated to Adelaide for use by farmers upstream in the Murray Darling’s southern basin. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301212/original/file-20191112-178525-auvb3v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301212/original/file-20191112-178525-auvb3v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> The southern Murray–Darling Basin. <a href="http://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/research-topics/water/aust-water-markets-reports/awmr-2015-16/southern-murray-darling-basin#region-overview" class="source">ABARES</a>, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" class="license">CC BY-NC</a> The federal government expects the water to be used to grow an extra <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-07/how-will-the-sa-desal-plant-revival-help-australian-farmers/11682044">120,000 tonnes of fodder</a> for livestock. The water will be sold to farmers at a discount rate of A$100 a megalitre. That’s 10 cents per 1,000 litres. By comparison, the residential price for that <a href="https://www.sawater.com.au/accounts-and-billing/current-water-and-sewerage-rates/residential-water-supply">water in Adelaide</a> would be A$2.39 to A$3.70 per 1,000 litres. The production cost of desalinated water is about <a href="https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/topics/water/resources/desalination">95 cents per 1,000 litres</a> when there’s rainwater already stored, according to a cost-benefit study published by the SA Department of Environment and Water in 2016. That means the total cost for the 100 gigalitres will be about A$95 million. So the federal government is effectively paying A$95 million to sell water for A$10 million: a loss to taxpayers of A$85 million. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301431/original/file-20191113-77363-3vm9vd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /> The Conversation, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" class="license">CC BY-ND</a> What do we get for the money? The discounted water provided to individual farmers will be capped at <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-07/drought-stimulus-sa-desalination-plant-murray-river-water-farms/11679136">no more than 25 megalitres</a>. The farmers must agree to not sell the water to others and to use it to grow fodder for livestock. There are many different forms of fodder but livestock producers most favour lucerne hay because it is highly nutritious. But it is also more expensive than cereal, pasture or straw hay. The amount of hay that can be grown with a megalitre of irrigation water depends on many things, but 120,000 tonnes with 100 gigalitres is possible in the right conditions. In the Murray-Darling southern basin lucerne hay currently sells for <a href="https://www.dairyaustralia.com.au/industry/farm-inputs-and-costs/hay-report">A$450 to A$600 a tonne</a>. That would make the market value of 120,000 tonnes of lucerne A$54 million to A$72 million. It means, on a best-case scenario, the federal government will be spending A$85 million to subsidise the production of hay worth A$72 million to its producers. The reality of farming In practice farms and farmers are incredible diverse, so not all irrigators will necessarily grow lucerne. Alternative fodders such as pasture or cereal hay generally have much lower market values. Which meaning the value of the fodder produced may be much less than the best-case scenario. It’s worrying that this policy shows such little regard for farming realities. It appears to have been crafted on the premise that every farmer has the same land, the same equipment and the same needs. Dictating the water must be used for a single purpose runs counter to the needs of the agriculture sector. If farmers could put it to a more effective use, why not allow it? In addition, it’s not clear how all the monitoring will be done to maintain compliance over such a restrictive regime. What measures will prevent farmers buying the discounted water and then simply selling an equivalent amount of any carry-over allocation at the going rate of up to <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/water/dashboards/#/water-markets/national/state/at">$1,000 a megalitre</a>? How will the government distinguish between the fodder grown with the 25 megalitres provided at low cost and any other fodder harvested on the same farm? How much will it cost to monitor and enforce such arrangements? The difficulty of answering these types of questions is precisely the reason why countries in the former eastern bloc failed to adequately provide for their populations. Telling people what crop to grow, when to grow, how to water the crop and how it should be consumed has not worked in the past. Farm businesses that respond to prices and use inputs, including water, in a way that suits their long- term commercial needs are generally better off. It seems a long way from the type of national drought policy Australia needs. It’s hard to see how a policy of this kind does anything other than waste a large amount of public money and disrupt important market mechanisms in agriculture in the process.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126681/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/lin-crase-9904">Lin Crase</a>, Professor of Economics and Head of School, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-south-australia-1180">University of South Australia</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/up-the-creek-the-85-million-plan-to-desalinate-water-for-drought-relief-126681">original article</a>.

Technology

Level two water restrictions begin today – this is what you can and can’t do

Residents of Sydney, the Blue Mountains and the Illawara region will face tough new water restrictions from today, forcing those who fail to comply to cough up hefty fines. The NSW Government announced the introduction of “level two” water restrictions in November, as dam levels continue to decrease in drought conditions. The rules will be put in place from December 10, applying to all residents and businesses in the affected areas. For the first time since the millennium drought in 2003, level one restrictions were introduced in June. “Usually, we would expect to have level two water restrictions come into effect when dam levels reached 40 per cent,” said Premier Gladys Berejiklian in a statement. “But given the rapid rate of decline of our dam levels we have decided to enact the next level restrictions sooner than planned. We’re introducing level two restrictions to save 78.5 gigalitres of water per year.” Those who are caught breaking the rules will be penalised $220, while businesses will face one of $550. Level two water restrictions are crucial to help manage NSW’s increasingly low water supply. “We’re doing the work to save as much drinking water as we can to ensure there is enough if the drought persists,” said Water Minister Melina Pavey. “Businesses who rely upon outdoor water use as part of their operations need to get an exemption. If a business applied for and received a permit under the previous level of restrictions, they’ll need to contact Sydney Water to confirm it’s still valid.” The biggest changes for residents and businesses in the affected areas are: <ul> <li>You can only use a watering can or bucket to water your garden before 10 am and after 4 pm.</li> <li>You can only use drip irrigation or smart watering systems for a maximum of 15 minutes a day per watering zone, before 10 am and after 4 pm.</li> <li>You can only top up an existing pool or spa, using a hose fitted with a trigger nozzle, watering can or bucket for a maximum of 15 minutes a day. You can only do this to replace water lost through evaporation, not to replace water deliberately removed from the pool or spa.</li> <li>You can only wash your vehicles with a bucket and sponge.</li> <li>You need a permit to fill new or renovated pools and spas that hold more than 500 litres.</li> </ul> Recycled water, greywater, rainwater, bore water and river water is allowed under the new restrictions, however they may come with their own conditions as to how they can be used.

Home & Garden

Call to boycott Coles: Drought Minister appalled as supermarket giant fails to help dairy farmers

Drought Minister David Littleproud has called on Coles customers to boycott the supermarket giant after the supermarket failed to pass on a levy for struggling dairy farmers. Littleproud called out the supermarket’s “low act” after the supermarket failed to not fully pass on a 10-cent drought levy on milk to dairy farmers. Coles agreed to pay dairy cooperative Norco $5.25 million after the Australian Competition and Consumers Commission noticed that they weren’t paying the levy. "They told their customers they were helping farmers, then tried keeping the money," he said on Sunday to <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/coles-minister-blasts-supermarket-on-milk-drought-levy/77cafc74-4207-4812-aa5f-ff3cdef609eb" target="_blank">9News</a>. "Coles has shown its true colours and needs to put things right." Littleproud is now saying customers should boycott Coles until they place a 20-cent levy on all dairy products. "Coles should now lead the way and put at least 20 cents a litre right across its dairy range, not just on milk to show they really do care about dairy farmers," he said. "They owe it to dairy farmers and the public for failing to live up to their promises." The ACCC claims that Coles did not raise its payment to Norco, which is the organisation who owns the chain’s own-branded milk by the 10 cents a litre it claimed. Coles disagreed with the ACCC’s decision but agreed to the payments in order to avoid an “unnecessary dispute”. People are furious about the news that Coles aren’t paying the farmers as promised. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"> so <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Coles?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Coles</a> supermarket chain asked people to pay an extra 10 per litre for it's 'home brand' milk, telling customers that it would pass that money on to 'drought stricken farmers'. They actually passed on 3.5 cents and pocketed the other 6.5 cents themselves. Isn't that fraud?🤔 — We're not going to take it any more !! (@DavidHuett) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidHuett/status/1202470948365983744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">5 December 2019</a></blockquote> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Coles?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Coles</a> it turns out have been lying to Australians. The extra 10c per litre they charged for milk and claimed to be going back to Australian dairy farmers, DIDN'T - now there's a surprise! Farmers ended up with 3.5c (1.5c after costs). Appalling behaviour from Coles. — John Little (@johnlittle) <a href="https://twitter.com/johnlittle/status/1202702472688521216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">5 December 2019</a></blockquote> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"> Utterly outrageous and totally believable at the same time. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Coles?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Coles</a> 'Pay More And We'll Give It To Struggling Farmers Milk' was, 'Thanks, Actually We'll Keep That Cash Milk'. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/auspol?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#auspol</a> <a href="https://t.co/a0CrGVa2y3">https://t.co/a0CrGVa2y3</a> — Dan Ziffer (@danziffer) <a href="https://twitter.com/danziffer/status/1202429529165185024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">5 December 2019</a></blockquote> Others questioned whether or not the donations that they made to the Coles “Farmer relief” fundraisers were going to those who really needed it. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en-gb"> I made a donation over the counter at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/coles?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#coles</a> to their farmers relief fundraiser. Who’s to say the farmers will ever see it? — jenni zadel (@JenniZadel) <a href="https://twitter.com/JenniZadel/status/1202424276697010177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">5 December 2019</a></blockquote>

News

“God is speaking to you”: Israel Folau preaches that bushfires and drought are God’s punishment for abortion and same-sex marriage

Israel Folau has caused further outrage by suggesting that the current bushfires and drought that is ravaging Australia is God’s punishment for legalising same-sex marriage and abortion. Folau spoke at The Truth of Jesus Christ Church in Kenshurt, north west of Sydney. “The message I mainly want to speak about today is mainly for the people who are outside within the world,” he began. “I’ve been looking around at the events that have been happening around Australia in the last couple of weeks with the bushfires and the droughts and all these things that are currently happening.” "I'm doing this out of love for people to be able to hear this message and receive it with open hearts." He said that Australians could solve the problems within the country by repealing these laws. "I am speaking to Australia - they have changed this law and changed the ordinance," he said. "They have changed that law and legalised same-sex marriage and now those things are okay in society, going against the laws of what God says. “Abortion - it's okay now to murder and kill infants, unborn children, and they deem that to be okay,” he continued. <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F592277641115135%2Fvideos%2F528446637884157%2F&show_text=0&width=267" width="267" height="476" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe> "This scripture is speaking to Australia. You have changed the law and changed the ordinance. Look how rapid these bushfires, these droughts, all these things that came in a short period time. "You think it's a coincidence or not? God is speaking to you guys, Australia, you need to repent and you need to take these laws and turn it back to following what is right by God, what God says in his word." Many people have been outraged by his comments, as four people have died in NSW alone and bushfires continue to threaten homes in NSW and QLD. However, Folau warned that the worst is yet to come. "What you see out there in the world, it's only a little taste of what God's judgment is like," he said. "The news now are saying that these bushfires are the worst they've ever seen in Australia - they haven’t even seen anything." Longtime supporter and 2GB radio host Alan Jones is usually a fan of Folau, but has quickly urged him to “button up”. “Israel is a lovely human being, I know him well. Israel, button up. Button up. “These comments don’t help.”

News

Australia could fall apart under climate change

Four years ago in December 2015, every member of the United Nations met in Paris and agreed to hold global temperature increases to 2°C, and as close as possible to 1.5°C. The bad news is that four years on the best that we can hope for is holding global increases to around 1.75°C. We can only do that if the world moves decisively towards zero net emissions by the middle of the century. A failure to act here, accompanied by similar paralysis in other countries, would see our grandchildren living with temperature increases of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/18/climate-crisis-heat-is-on-global-heating-four-degrees-2100-change-way-we-live">around 4°C this century</a>, and more beyond. I have spent my life on the positive end of discussion of Australian domestic and international policy questions. But if effective global action on climate change fails, I fear the challenge would be beyond contemporary Australia. I fear that things would fall apart. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300006/original/file-20191104-88368-nlzoz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /> The Yallourn coal-fired power station in the Latrobe Valley, Victoria. David Crosling/AAP There is reason to hope It’s not all bad news. What we know today about the effect of increased concentrations of greenhouse gases broadly confirms the conclusions I drew from available research in previous climate change reviews <a href="https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20190509030954/http://www.garnautreview.org.au/2008-review.html">in 2008</a> and <a href="https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20190509030847/http://www.garnautreview.org.au/update-2011/garnaut-review-2011.html">2011</a>. I conducted these for, respectively, state and Commonwealth governments, and a federal cross-parliamentary committee. But these reviews greatly overestimated the cost of meeting ambitious reduction targets. There has been an extraordinary <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/News/News-releases/2018/Annual-update-finds-renewables-are-cheapest-new-build-power">fall in the cost of equipment</a> for solar and wind energy, and of technologies to store renewable energy to even out supply. Per person, Australia has natural resources for renewable energy superior to any other developed country and far superior to our customers in northeast Asia. Australia is by far the world’s largest exporter of iron ore and aluminium ores. In the main they are processed overseas, but in the post-carbon world we will be best positioned to turn them into zero-emission iron and aluminium. In such a world, there will be no economic sense in any aluminium or iron smelting in Japan or Korea, not much in Indonesia, and enough to cover only a modest part of domestic demand in China and India. The European commitment to early achievement of net-zero emissions opens a large opportunity there as well. Converting one quarter of Australian iron oxide and half of aluminium oxide exports to metal would add more value and jobs than current coal and gas combined. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300005/original/file-20191104-88428-37vk3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C7%2C5145%2C3437&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /> Australia’s vast wind and solar energy resources mean it is well-placed to export industrial products in a low-carbon global economy. Flickr A natural supplier to the world’s industry With abundant low-cost electricity, Australia could grow into a major global producer of minerals needed in the post-carbon world such as lithium, titanium, vanadium, nickel, cobalt and copper. It could also become the natural supplier of pure silicon, produced from sand or quartz, for which there is fast-increasing global demand. Other new zero-emissions industrial products will require little more than globally competitive electricity to create. These include ammonia, <a href="https://www.ceda.com.au/Digital-hub/Blogs/CEDA-Blog/August-2019/Unlocking-the-hydrogen-future">exportable hydrogen</a> and electricity transmitted by high-voltage cables to and through Indonesia and Singapore to the Asian mainland. Australia’s exceptional endowment of forests and woodlands gives it an advantage in biological raw materials for industrial processes. And there’s an immense opportunity for capturing and sequestering, at relatively low cost, atmospheric carbon in soils, pastures, woodlands, forests and plantations. Modelling conducted for my first report suggested that Australia would import emissions reduction credits, however today I expect Australia to cut domestic emissions to the point that it <a href="https://unfccc.int/international-emissions-trading">sells excess credits to other nations.</a> <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300009/original/file-20191104-88382-eftevp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /> Tall white gum trees in northern Tasmania. Australia has huge potential to store more carbon in forests and woodlands. BARBARA WALTON/EPA The transition is an economic winner Technologies to produce and store zero-emissions energy and sequester carbon in the landscape are highly capital-intensive. They have therefore benefited exceptionally from the historic fall in global interest rates over the past decade. This has reduced the cost of transition to zero emissions, accentuating Australia’s advantage. In 2008 the comprehensive modelling undertaken for the Garnaut Review suggested the transition would entail a noticeable (but manageable) sacrifice of Australian income in the first half of this century, followed by gains that would grow late into the second half of this century and beyond. Today, calculations using similar techniques would give different results. Australia playing its full part in effective global efforts to hold warming to 2°C or lower would show economic gains instead of losses in early decades, followed by much bigger gains later on. If Australia is to realise its immense opportunity in a zero-carbon world, it will need a different policy framework. But we can make a strong start even with the incomplete and weak policies and commitments we have. Policies to help complete the transition can be built in a political environment that has been changed by early success. Three crucial steps Three early policy developments are needed. None contradicts established federal government policy. First, the regulatory system has to focus strongly on the <a href="https://www.aemc.gov.au/energy-system/electricity/electricity-system/reliability">security and reliability</a> of electricity supplies, as it comes to be drawn almost exclusively from intermittent renewable sources. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300010/original/file-20191104-88378-kx0r2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /> A high-voltage electricity transmission tower in the Brisbane central business district. Darren England/AAP Second, the government must support transformation of the <a href="https://www.aemo.com.au/Electricity/National-Electricity-Market-NEM/Planning-and-forecasting/National-Transmission-Network-Development-Plan">power transmission system</a> to allow a huge expansion of supply from regions with high-quality renewable energy resources not near existing transmission cables. This is likely to require new mechanisms to support private initiatives. Third, the Commonwealth could secure a globally competitive cost of capital by underwriting new investment in reliable (or “firmed”) renewable electricity. This was a recommendation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/more-work-needed-to-make-electricity-prices-affordable">retail electricity price inquiry</a>, and has been adopted by the Morrison government. We must get with the Paris program For other countries to import large volumes of low-emission products from us, we will have to accept and be seen as delivering on emissions reduction targets consistent with the Paris objectives. Paris requires net-zero emissions by mid-century. Developed countries have to reach zero emissions before then, so their interim targets have to represent credible steps towards that conclusion. Japan, Korea, the European Union and the United Kingdom are the natural early markets for zero-emissions steel, aluminum and other products. China will be critically important. Indonesia and India and their neighbours in southeast and south Asia will sustain Australian exports of low-emissions products deep into the future. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300011/original/file-20191104-88387-16b3t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /> An electric car being charged. Australia has good supplies of lithium, used in electric vehicle batteries. Ian Langsdon/EPA For the European Union, reliance on Australian exports of zero-emissions products would only follow assessments that we were making acceptable contributions to the global mitigation effort. We will not get to that place in one step, or soon. But likely European restrictions on imports of high-carbon products, which will exempt those made with low emissions, will allow us a good shot. Movement will come gradually, initially with public support for innovation; then suddenly, as business and government leaders realise the magnitude of the Australian opportunity, and as humanity enters the last rush to avoid being overwhelmed by the rising costs of climate change. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300033/original/file-20191104-88419-ca9gci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300033/original/file-20191104-88419-ca9gci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> The cover of ‘Superpower’ by Ross Garnaut. Supplied The pace will be governed by progress in decarbonisation globally. That will suit us, as our new strengths in the zero-carbon world grow with the retreat of the old. We have an unparalleled opportunity. We are more than capable of grabbing it. Ross Garnaut conducted the 2008 and 2011 climate reviews for the Rudd and Gillard governments. His book <a href="https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/superpower">Superpower – Australia’s Low-Carbon Opportunity</a>, is published today by BlackInc with La Trobe University Press.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126341/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ross-garnaut-237">Ross Garnaut</a>, Professorial Research Fellow in Economics, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-melbourne-722">University of Melbourne</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-could-fall-apart-under-climate-change-but-theres-a-way-to-avoid-it-126341">original article</a>.

Domestic Travel

“It’s a pretty simple question”: Today host Deb Knight grills Deputy PM over drought plan

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack was grilled by Today host Deb Knight who demanded that he answer a “pretty simple question” about the government’s drought relief package. According to the $1 billion plan, the Regional Investment Corporation (RIC) farm drought loans of up to $500,000 will now be interest-free for two years, interest-only in years three to five and principal-and-interest for years six to 10. This differs from the current conditions as they are interest-only for the first five years and principal and interest for the remainder of the 10-year loan term. The loans will be available to small businesses who are dependent on agriculture and under similar conditions to the new drought loans. The loans cover businesses such as harvesting and shearing contractors, livestock transport providers, stock and station agents as well as agricultural equipment and repair providers that employ 19 workers or less. “Should they wish to take a loan out, interest free over two years, they can do that up to half a million dollars,” the Nationals leader said on Today. “Many drought-affected regional businesses, and that’s what I’ve been hearing, it’s not farmers, it’s about ag-related businesses, they can take out that loan under the RIC. They can invest in themselves in their futures, should they so wish and they don’t have to pay any interest for two years.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"> “Whether it’s councils, whether it’s regional businesses or whether it’s farmers, we’ve provided the assistance that they’ve asked for.” <a href="https://twitter.com/M_McCormackMP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@M_McCormackMP</a> on the billion-dollar funding package being given to drought-stricken farmers and regional communities. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/9Today?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#9Today</a> <a href="https://t.co/KQlR0lJy9r">pic.twitter.com/KQlR0lJy9r</a> — The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTodayShow/status/1192177738590781440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">6 November 2019</a></blockquote> However, Knight pointed out that it would take a lot longer than two years for many farmers and businesses to get back on their feet. “Will you look at extending it beyond two years for those who need it?” she said. “We will see about that,” said the Deputy Prime Minister. “We have been monitoring the drought very closely. We have got people who live in these drought-affected communities. I live in a drought-affected community. I hear it every day, I report back as does the Drought Minister.” Knight then asked why he couldn’t commit to making it available. “What we have been doing with this drought is making a stepped payment and stepped packages all the way through,” Mr McCormack said. Knight said, “It’s a pretty simple question. Will it be available? Yes or no?” Mr McCormack replied, “The fact is we are making it available.” Knight asked, “Beyond two years?” Mr McCormack said, “We will see if it’s required beyond two years. If it’s required beyond two years. If it’s required beyond two years, well, of course, as a responsible government, as a government with the drought very much in mind, of course we will continue assistance. That’s what we do. That’s what we have done the whole way through. We have always monitored this drought and provided the assistance the whole way through as it’s been needed, as it’s been asked for.” Knight pointed out that the drought measures in place did not include “exit packages” that have been requested by the National Farmers Federation to help farmers get off the land. “It’s not — there are things that we will continue to look at,” Mr McCormack said. “We want our farmers to stay on the land. Importantly, we want there to be a future in agriculture. Agriculture is not broken, by no means whatsoever. Agriculture still has a huge part to play food security in our nation is one of our most important things. We will continue to make sure that that food security is there. We will continue to make sure our farmers have incentive to stay on the land, to do the job they have always done for our nation.” Under the plan unveiled by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday, millions of dollars will be released to local councils for job-creation projects to help out drought-affected farmers.

Money & Banking

Farmers rejoice after shock massive donation from Muslim community

A small drought-stricken town in Southern Queensland has been overwhelmed with a massive donation of hay and water from the Muslim community in Australia. Stanthorpe, which was feared to run out of water in December or January, was the recipient of 438 hay bales and 190,000 litres of water. This was arranged by Muslim Aid Australia and added to their previous and similarly sized donation by the group to the town about a month ago. The group’s spokesman Riyaad Ally said that fundraising efforts for the drought initiative have been extensive. <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FCharityMAA%2Fvideos%2F1131955387009022%2F&show_text=0&width=267" width="267" height="476" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe> "Everybody just wanted to unite. We had really amazing support from not only our donor base, but other organisations' donor bases that all came together," he told <a rel="noopener" href="https://7news.com.au/" target="_blank">7NEWS.com.au.</a> Ally said that the group was welcomed with open arms by Stanthorpe residents. "It was amazing. The people there, they couldn't thank us enough for the support," Mr Ally said. "At the end of the day, we don't need the thanks. We do this because we love it.” Last year, Muslim Aid Australia began its extensive work in drought relief when it donated around a dozen truckloads of hay to outback town Goondiwindi that comprised of more than 150 tonnes of hay. Donors for the town of Stanthorpe included organisations from Turkey and the United Kingdom as well as local mosques and Muslim-run businesses. "We love to actually be with the people that we're supporting as well,” Ally explained. "We're all part of the same family and we're all trying to help each other out."

News

New study shows 80 per cent of Aussie household water goes to waste

As regional Australian towns face the prospect of <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/plan-c-is-a-problem-a-town-without-ground-water-nears-day-zero-20191022-p53334.html">running out of water</a>, it’s time to ask why Australia does not make better use of recycled wastewater. The technology to reliably and safely make clean, drinkable water from all sources, including sewage, has existed for <a href="https://www.applied.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/drinking-water-through-recycling-full-report.pdf">at least a decade</a>. Further, <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/water-reform/national-water-initiative-agreement-2004.pdf">government policy</a> has for a long time allowed for recycled water to ensure supply. The greatest barrier to the widespread use of recycled wastewater is community acceptance. Research from around the world found the best way to overcome reluctance is to embrace education and rigorously ensure the highest quality water treatment. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298470/original/file-20191024-31434-187ua6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298470/original/file-20191024-31434-187ua6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> In 2006 Toowoomba voted against introducing recycled water, despite extensive drought gripping the area. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/allanhenderson/2351100815/in/photolist-nQkp38-4zL1mX-aDPpEZ-aDPpLV-fEdSCh-hvcdT7-nQiamA-o7ESdb-fEdQK7-NyMorG-o7Mtex-hvcFhN-nMBXnf-29iZvnt-uobZDu-uEkpLu" class="source">Allan Henderson/Flickr</a>, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" class="license">CC BY</a> Why not use stormwater? Many people are happy to use recycled stormwater, while being reluctant to cook, drink or wash with recycled household wastewater. But there are technical, cost and supply issues with relying on stormwater to meet our country’s water needs. Stormwater has to be cleaned before it is used, the supply can be irregular as it is reliant upon rain, and it has to be stored somewhere for use. On the other hand, household wastewater (which is what goes into the sewerage system from sinks, toilets, washing machines and so on) is a more consistent supply, with <a href="https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2011/04/04/from-wastewater-to-drinking-water/">80% or more</a> of household water leaving as wastewater. Furthermore, wastewater goes to treatment plants already, so there is a system of pipes to transport it and places which already treat it, including advanced treatment plants that can treat the water to be clean enough for a range of purposes. There are strong economic, environmental and practical arguments for investing more effort in reusing wastewater to meet our water supply needs. This water can be used for households, industry, business and agriculture, greening public spaces, fighting fires, and topping up rivers or groundwater. The water cycle Technically, all water is recyled; indeed we are drinking the <a href="https://www.xplorationstation.com/">same water as the dinosaurs</a>. Put very simply, water evaporates, forms clouds and falls as rain, and is either absorbed into the earth and captured underground or filtered through rock and goes back again into oceans and rivers. When we capture and reuse water, we are not making more water, but speeding up the water cycle so we can reuse it more quickly. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298473/original/file-20191024-31471-1tnktt1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298473/original/file-20191024-31471-1tnktt1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> Not pictured: the many, many animals and people every drop of water has passed through over millennia. Wikimedia Commons, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" class="license">CC BY-SA</a> We do already <a href="http://www.awa.asn.au/AWA_MBRR/Publications/Fact_Sheets/Water_Recycling_Fact_Sheet/AWA_MBRR/Publications/Fact_Sheets/Water_Recycling_Fact_Sheet.aspx?hkey=54c6e74b-0985-4d34-8422-fc3f7523aa1d">reuse wastewater</a> in Australia, with many parts of regional Australia cleaning wastewater and releasing it into rivers. That water is then extracted for use by places downstream. Despite this, there have been significant community objections to building new infrastructure to reuse wastewater for household use. In 2006, at the height of the Millennium drought, Toowoomba <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160105-why-we-will-all-one-day-drink-recycled-wastewater">rejected the idea</a> entirely. However, since then a scheme has been <a href="https://www.watercorporation.com.au/water-supply/our-water-sources/recycled-water">successfully established</a> in Perth. We must examine these issues again in light of the current drought, which sees a number of Australian regional centres facing the prospect of <a href="https://meltwaternews.com/ext/mediac/213698325.pdf">running out of water</a>. Lessons from overseas <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298467/original/file-20191024-31453-10p3sbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298467/original/file-20191024-31453-10p3sbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> Singapore has had enormous success in reusing wastewater for all kinds of purposes. EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG Despite initial reluctance, many places around the world have successfully introduced extensive wastewater recycling. Places such as Singapore, Essex, California, New Mexico, and Virginia widely use it. Recent research from the <a href="https://www.wsaa.asn.au/publications">Water Services Association of Australia</a>, working with other research bodies, found several key lessons. Firstly, the language we use is important. Phrases like “<a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/toilettotap-back-on-the-agenda-as-nsw-looks-again-at-recycled-water-20180919-h15kqh">toilet to tap</a>” are unhelpful as they don’t emphasise the extensive treatment processes involved. The social media and news outlets can play an significant role here. In Orange County, California, wastewater was introduced through a slow process of building acceptance. Influential individuals were enlisted to explain and advocate for its uses. Secondly, communities need time and knowledge, particularly about safety and risks. Regulators play an important role in reassuring communities. In San Diego, a demonstration plant gave many people the opportunity to see the treatment process, drink the water and participate in education. We need to go beyond information to deep consultation and education, understanding where people are starting from and acknowledging that people from different cultures and backgrounds may have different attitudes. El Paso successfully introduced wastewater through strong engagement with the media and significant investment in community education, including explaining the water cycle. Finally, quality of the water needs to be great and it needs to come from a trustworthy source. The more it happens, and people know that, the more likely they are to feel reassured. It’s clear the public expect governments to plan and act to secure our future water supply. But we can’t just impose possibly distasteful solutions – instead, the whole community needs to be part of the conversation.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125798/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/roberta-ryan-172068">Roberta Ryan</a>, Professor, UTS Institute for Public Policy and Governance and UTS Centre for Local Government, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/80-of-household-water-goes-to-waste-we-need-to-get-it-back-125798">original article</a>.

Domestic Travel

Alan Jones breaks down in tears over drought crisis and Scott Morrison interview

An emotional Alan Jones was reduced to tears on his television show as he described the struggles drought-stricken farmers are currently going through, while criticising Prime Minister Scott Morrison in the process. The PM sat with Jones on his 2GB breakfast radio show yesterday morning where the shock jock interrogated him with questions regarding the action he’s taking to help desperate primary producers. Morrison’s answers didn’t hold weight and the pair were embroiled in a tense exchange, garnering media attention across the country. Addressing the incident on his Sky News program Jones & Credlin, Jones slammed the response that came out of Canberra, and in doing so, he cracked. “The Prime Minister today on radio with me has disappointed millions of Australians,” he said. “I begged him to provide fodder, water and freight so farmers wouldn’t have to send their breeding stock to slaughter. He just didn’t understand.” The radio star spoke about a call he received from a farmer 10 minutes before he interviewed Morrison, in which the man began to cry about having to sell off his stock. Jones then addressed a listener named Mary, who had contacted him and urged him to keep up the pressure on political figures. “We will fight because I have been exactly where the people of Bourke are,” he said. “My old man would be ashamed of me if I didn’t fight. I can’t speak for Canberra …” A clearly emotional Jones then struggled to speak, as he put his hands up asking to “take a break”. “Look sorry about that,” he said when the show returned. After taking a number of calls from angry listeners, Jones then delivered a stark warning to the PM. “The Morrison government tonight has a massive political crisis on its hands. It can be solved, but it’d want to be solved in a hurry otherwise the political fallout will be terminal.”

News

“I’m a farmer’s son, you’re not”: Alan Jones fires back at Scott Morrison during tense interview about Australia’s drought crisis

Prime Minister Scott Morrison gave an explosive interview with Alan Jones this morning, as Jones increasingly grew agitated at Morrison’s responses to the government’s drought relief policies. "Can I ask you this. Why, if the drought response is adequate, would a farmer write to me and say this – and I don't mean to offend, I'm just telling you what he said – 'So you're going to interview Morrison. Why bother? I guarantee Australia will have no more confidence in the Morrison government after your interview than before. I guarantee there'll be no admission from Morrison that his government is seriously lacking in a number of crucial matters,'" Jones said, according to <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/australian-politics-live-tuesday-october-15/live-coverage/aa1e9d0bad1dde2f507f48d4fea10a3c" target="_blank">news.com.au</a>. "What I'm doing is exactly what I told the Australian people I was going to do. Whether it's on energy, on water, our support for farmers in the drought, and we just finished the most recent financial year, where we put an additional $318.5 million in additional support to farmers," Mr Morrison said. Jones was fired-up as he had received personal calls from farmers who cannot afford food and water for their livestock and were sending them to slaughter and criticised the Farmers Household Allowance scheme. The scheme gives farmers fortnightly payments and, in some case, lump sum payments of up to $12,000. "You say Farm Household Allowance. Now PM, come on. You go and tell Jenny that she can live on $250 a week." "It's not $250 a week Alan. It's not just that," Mr Morrison said. "If you live in the city, and your business goes bust or you lose your job, then you have access to Newstart. But if you are on a farm property and you get access to the Farm Household Allowance." "Why are they walking off? Why are they sending their cattle to slaughter?" Jones pressed. Morrison didn’t budge, and Jones’ frustrations boiled over. "Oh don't talk to me, I'm a farmer's son and you're not," he snapped. Morrison eventually relented and said the government can’t “make it rain”. "The government, whether it's state, federal or anyone else, we can do a lot of things to try and help people get through this. But the government can't make it rain, and it can't make life as it was before the drought," he said. "We both want the same thing. We want the farmers to be able to get through this drought. But we can't kid ourselves that there's a magic wand and a magic cash splash that's going to make this thing totally solved." 2GB listeners are furious after hearing the interview, saying that Morrison is a “waste of space”. "I'm just devastated. This guy's a waste of space. I just can't believe it," said Jim. "My blood's boiling after hearing that. I'll describe it, right. Complete failure as a Prime Minister. He's arrogant. They've been conning the public after the election," said Robert. "As a former one-eyed Liberal, I felt like putting my fist through the radio listening to Scott Morrison this morning," said Anna.

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“I’m a farmer’s son, you’re not”: Alan Jones fires back at Scott Morrison during tense interview about Australia’s drought crisis

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