Australia Drought Illustrated

To accentuate my previous article about the maddening weather, and to those who cannot comprehend or visualise how dry big part of Australia is or scores of farmers who lost almost everything or simply how bad the condition really is...

I saw this pic in The Daily Telegraph on 28 June. This picture depicts a story about a father who was standing on one part of a-once-submerged now nothing but dry parch mud. It is actually a dam. Yes a dry dam. The Pejar Dam is located near Goulbourn, an area extremely affected by the drought, for about 10 years. This particular dam was at 12% capacity, which was just enough to supply fresh drinking water to the population nearby for another 12 months. The storm that wrecked coastal area of NSW, brought hope to the people in Goulburn, and other part of Australia. Provided if it falls at the right places. The heavy rainfall subsequently replenished the much needed drinking water into the dams (together with Sooley Dam) to about 50% within 2 weeks, at as 28 June.

In Australia, water restriction was introduced to control the usage of water. There are generally 4 stages of water restriction, and hardest hit areas like Goulburn and parts of Queensland are on Stage 5. It is a newly create, more critical, stage where all watering of garden with host or sprinkler are banned.

Without going into further details, I trust most of you now get the general idea of the harsh drought condition face by the Australians.