Murray-Darling rainfall

Submitted: Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 09:13
ThreadID: 67812 Views:3395 Replies:4 FollowUps:12
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Hi. The rain in the northern part of the Murray Darling catchment over the past few days is great, but the following map shows how little rain has fallen in the lower part of the basin (Victoria and southern NSW).

This data is available at bom.gov.au - climate - recent+historical - maps. See Murray Darling YTD rainfall

Cheers
Rod, Perth

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Reply By: DIO - Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 10:46

Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 10:46
So now I take it that the Murray Darling Basin only exists in 2 states - NSW & VIC. Guess is was bound to happen with the continuing years of drought.
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Follow Up By: Rod, Sydney - Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 10:52

Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 10:52
Apologies - I should have said southern NSW, Victoria and SA have not had much rain.
Rod, Perth

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Reply By: Member - Netnut (VIC) - Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 11:28

Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 11:28
Hello Rod,
Thanks for alerting members to the plight of the folk in the southern part of the Murray Darling catchment. We are really in the poo !

I live in Kerang in the northwest of Victoria and not far from the Murray River. I'm consider myself lucky to have access to water from the river as well as the town supply. I have been on Stage 3 water restirctions for some time. Interestingly, my friends in Brisbane have been suffering much harsher restrictions than me.

Kerang has received 11.0 mm of rain this year and the last decent fall (19mm) was on 18th December, 2008. I have watched with great interest the rain events in Qld and NSW, hoping that some would filter down the east coast to western Victoria, as it occasionally does. I watch every band of cloud that comes our way from the west in the hope of some rain.

Our main water storages are very low: Hume Weir 3.6% and Eildon Reservoir 14%. I never imagined that these mighty storages would ever fall to these levels.

As a consequence of the low rainfall over several years and extensive dry periods each year, much of the once productive irrigation area has been laid to waste. There are dead trees everywhere you look, many farm houses are now vacant, the local dairy herds are surviving on hay often bought on credit, livestock numbers have been seriously depleted.

For the soon-to-close season, the local water authority - Goulburn Murray Water - has been able to allocate 35% of water entitlement to irrigators. The water remaining in storage is fully reserved for domestic customers (town supplies) and farmers who are able to reserve unused water for the start of the next irrigation season (known as carryover).

The quality of the water in the Murray has fallen dramatically in the past fortnight as an extensive algal bloom has developed from Yarrawonga to Tooleybuc due to above-average autumn temperatures. This is a temporary nuisance to us - it is already beginning to disperse. It is just another problem caused by the low flow in the Murray River. A much bigger one is that our river redgum forests have not been flooded for many years !

I'm about to receive some Rudd Dollars. How stimulating ! I would much rather our PM have spent the stimulus money on a project to direct - and pipe where necessary - water from Northern Australia to our food bowls. If we can build a mighty Snowy Hydro Scheme, we can surely collect, store and redirect water which might otherwise be lost to seepage and evaporation or flow out to sea.

Send rain !
Netnut



AnswerID: 359481

Follow Up By: Member - Vince B (NSW) - Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 12:18

Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 12:18
Hello Netnut.
Here are a few stats that will make you cry regarding river flows.
Over Easter we camped on the Mann River(northern NSW).The region has had alot of rainfall over the past month & on the 1st April, the Mann Rriver recorded a 24hr flow of over 160000ml/day.
All this water flows out to the sea.
It is a pity some of the northern NSW rivers don't end up flowing into the Murray/Darling system.
We travelled down the Darling last July & it would be great to see the river come alive again.
Cheers.
Vince
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Follow Up By: Member - Mfewster(SA) - Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 12:22

Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 12:22
Netnut, while I agree with most of what you say, it is simply a myth that water can be piped from Northern Australia to the south. This has been looked at many times. Unless it is going downhill, moving water is not like moving gas. Too much friction in the pipes. To move it over this distance would require astronomical pumping costs. Cheaper to relocate people to the north. I'm betting this will start to happen in not too many years.
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Follow Up By: Madfisher - Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 12:32

Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 12:32
Agree it is not practical to pipe water fron northern Australia, but it is simple to divert water from the NSW north coast back over the divide similar to the snowy scheme. BUT the greenies will never let it happen. As long as this water is not all lost to cotton it would be great.
Cheers Pete
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Follow Up By: Member - Mfewster(SA) - Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 16:03

Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 16:03
Madfisher. I'm not saying that you are wrong about diverting water back over the ranges. I've just never seen this evaluated. Do you have any references to studies on this? Personally, I don't think we will getanywhere on grand water schemes until we abolish the States, or at least heavily curtail their powers.
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Follow Up By: Dave B ( BHQ NSW) - Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 18:52

Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 18:52
Mfewster, can you imagine Mr Rann and all the other premiers saying they will give up their jobs so that it can be all managed from Canberra.
Don't hold your breath.

Dave
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Follow Up By: Member - Mfewster(SA) - Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 19:14

Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 19:14
Dave B
I sure can't imagine the State Premiers supporting this, but if enough people thought about it and started to move for changes to the constitution, it would make a lot more sense than fiddling around on the constiution on the republican issue.
Any serious public discussion along these lines might just stir them into actually working together for a change.
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Follow Up By: Member - Scrubcat (VIC) - Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 20:53

Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 20:53
Mfewster,
G`day ,
Have a look at >>> http://www.johnston-independent.com/bradfield_scheme.html

Or Google "Bradfield scheme"

I am convinced it could be done.

Scrubby
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Follow Up By: Madfisher - Wednesday, Apr 15, 2009 at 22:30

Wednesday, Apr 15, 2009 at 22:30
Yes their was a study done to divert the clarence back over the divide. Problem is the nymoida river which runs into the clarence has an endangered species living their(The east coast Cod), so will not happen. Another river that would be very easy to divert would be the Goubourn as the divide in this area is only 600 m.
Cannot remember now where I read about the studies on the clarence. But now their is a cry from the extreme greens to let more water run to the sea down the snowy again, so large scale scheme like the snowy will not happen again.
Cheers Pete
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Reply By: Member - Scrubcat (VIC) - Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 20:46

Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 at 20:46
G`day Rod,
A mate of mine in northern Vic moved off the dairy farm a couple of years ago because he could no longer afford to hand feed the herd, he was buying in hay and feeding out 8 round bales each day @ $120.00 per bale. It takes a bit of the folding stuff to do that year after year for 10 years or more.

And for those that are debating the feasibility of diverting water from the north to the rivers flowing southward.

PLEASE go to and READ
http://www.johnston-independent.com/bradfield_scheme.html

I reckon we ( us Australians ) can do just about anything, we only need the will to do it.

Just my 20 cents worth,

Scrubby
AnswerID: 359569

Follow Up By: Member - Mfewster(SA) - Wednesday, Apr 15, 2009 at 10:23

Wednesday, Apr 15, 2009 at 10:23
Scrubcat. The argument generally hangs around the amount of energy needed to do the pumping. I can't evaluate that, however two things on the page make me doubt their argument. Firstly, they state that they are associated with the mob who wanted to run water from the Kimberly region in WA to Perth. This group were half baked, their figures on energy use were preposterous and their whole proposition was generally laughed out of contention. Clearly the proposition to raise water back over the Eastern divide and drop it down into the river system on the western side would need much less energy as once over, the natural flow would do the work. I have heard this debated before and people who are supposed to be "experts" claimed the energy used would still be excessive. I don't know.
But the thing that really gives me grounds for thought is some of the other statements on the page. Main aim seems to be to support the cotton and cattle industries. The only hope for the Murray/Darling system id to increase flows along the length of the system. Cotton already takes off far too much. Used for cattle, you get drinking water but you also get massive land degredation as the whole landscape isn't watered, just watering points. This cocentrates cattle movements with appalling results to land. Huhe areas of central Oz have been stuffed by this. If the water can be pumped back over the Divide, it should just be left to make its way back down the system.
Again, this is the sort of decision that will almost certainly never be made while this country continues to think on a State rather than Australian basis.
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Follow Up By: Madfisher - Wednesday, Apr 15, 2009 at 22:39

Wednesday, Apr 15, 2009 at 22:39
I am no engineer, but see no need to pump water over the divide. You build a large dam on the eastern side similar to Eucebene them divert this water through tunnels back though the mountains using gravity. You then have another dam on the western side to collect and store the water till needed. Hydro electricity could be generated similar to the snowy scheme(www. snowy hydro)
Cheers Pete
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Follow Up By: Member - Mfewster(SA) - Thursday, Apr 16, 2009 at 08:04

Thursday, Apr 16, 2009 at 08:04
MadF
Now that is a great idea and would really be neat, Assuming you can find a sites suitable and high enough to collect adequate quantities of water on the Easter side and suitably placed to access headwaters on the western side. Have any such sites been identified?
Part of the problem with all dams is working out the impact of the restriction of the dams on the regular flow. The Greens aren't all mad in wanting to be careful about what still gets through. The lack of flooding along the Murray and the death of the redgum forests is a case in point.
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Reply By: Member - Mfewster(SA) - Thursday, Apr 16, 2009 at 21:17

Thursday, Apr 16, 2009 at 21:17
Stop Press. Today it is hitting the media in Adelaide. At the flow rates we have had over the last three years, and which show no sign of changing, Adelaide will be out of drinkable water within about 12 months. The pollies are trying to reassure us that this will only happen if we don't get rain. And of course we aren't This is going to get just as ugly as the greens always said it would.
AnswerID: 359879

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