In Menindee, 500 Miles W. From Sydney, Darling River Is Gone; No Water, No Fish, Hottest Summer Ever
Last edited Thu Oct 24, 2019, 08:40 AM - Edit history (1)
MENINDEE, Australia (Reuters) - Reduced to a string of stagnant mustard-colored pools, fouled in places with pesticide runoff and stinking with the rotting carcasses of cattle and fish, the Darling River is running dry. The parched earth of Australia’s longest waterway, if tributaries are included, is in the grip of the continent’s most severe drought in a century.
https://www.reuters.com/video/?videoId=OVB2GOVAJ&jwsource=cl
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Locals now avoid using tap water for drinking and washing babies and children, saying it has caused skin irritation, and prefer boxed and bottled water instead. “That was our food source, the river, our water source. That was our livelihood,” said Aboriginal elder Patricia Doyle, in her backyard piled with flotsam discovered in the now-exposed riverbed.
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The past two years have been the driest in the catchment area of the Darling, which flows 2,844 km (1,767 miles) over the outback to the sea, and adjoining Murray river since records began in 1900. Drought is weighing on economic growth, and the dire conditions have prompted Australia, a major wheat exporter, to import the grain for the first time in 12 years.
Last summer was the hottest on record, and in Menindee, where temperatures regularly top 38 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit), another scorching season is expected.
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-drought-widerimage/thirst-turns-to-anger-as-australias-mighty-river-runs-dry-idUSKBN1X22TT