AFP , SYDNEY
Monday, May 31, 2004,Page 5
Australians have been warned they face an environmental crisis unless they stop squandering scarce water resources in the world's most arid inhabited continent.
Australians have done little to curb water usage despite the worst drought in living memory, with households in the desert-dominated country still using water at a rate 30 percent higher than the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development average.
The problem is most acute in large cities, such as Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, which account for well over two-thirds of Australia's population of 20 million.
With reservoir levels below 50 percent in all of Australia's major cities except Brisbane, experts warn that something must be done.
Dams serving Sydney, the nation's largest city, are near record-low levels as the city continues to expand, with experts saying the bulk of the country's population on the coastal fringes do not realize the extent of the problem.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/05/31/2003157677Howard belongs in prison with Blair and Bush. Australians need to vote in a moral leader.