NSW towns including Dubbo and Tamworth face water emergency within months

Towns in western and central New South Wales, including Dubbo, Nyngan, Cobar, Walgett and Tamworth, are facing a crisis in their water supplies within a few months unless it rains, prompting emergency planning by water authorities.

 NSW water authorities are carrying out emergency planning,
  as dams, including those servicing the towns of Menindee,
Dubbo, Nyngan, Cobar and Tamworth run critically low. 

And on properties throughout the Murray-Darling basin, irrigators are bracing for their water entitlements to be reduced to around 10% of their usual allocations, which will severely constrain agricultural production.

A week before the election, the Murray–Darling Basin Authority issued a “sobering assessment” of the outlook for the Murray Darling river system in the communique from its monthly meeting.

“Since July 2018, inflows to the River Murray System have remained in the driest 7% of records, the head of River Management,” the executive director, Andrew Reynolds, told the board.

Read the story from The Guardian by Anne Davis - “NSW towns including Dubbo and Tamworth face water emergency within months.”

Central New South Wales can be disheartening and sometimes even alarming

D

riving through central New South Wales can be a little disheartening, and even alarming at certain times of the year.

A new website discussed on The Conversation suggests that by the end of the century even Melbournians could be living in central NSW conditions.

It says, “Even if we significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions as under an intermediate scenario, Melbourne’s annual average climate could look more like that of Adelaide’s, and Adelaide’s climate could be more like that of Griffith in New South Wales.”

Further, it adds, “The change in climate is much greater by 2090 and under a high emissions scenario. In this case Melbourne’s climate could then be more like that of Dubbo, Griffith’s more like that of Bourke (600 km away), Sydney’s more like Brisbane, and Coffs Harbour’s could be like Mackay.”

The story - “A new website shows how global warming could change your town” – says, "By 2090, Australian average temperature is projected to increase by 0.6 to 1.7C for low emissions, 1.4-2.7C for intermediate emissions, and 2.8 to 5.1C for high emissions.”