After 10-year drought, rivers and dams fail Australia towns
By JOSEPHINE TOVEY
November 26, 2009 NEXT month Viv Lemottee will have to make a choice between his animals and his washing machine. One of about 130 residents of the tiny hamlet of Euabalong, in the Lachlan Valley in the state’s west, he’s about to receive his daily ration of water by truck: just 150 litres a day. ”My dogs, they drink maybe 10 litres a day between them,” he said, ”but I won’t not give it to them. They’re like family.” Euabalong is one of many towns along the Lachlan that are moving to emergency drought provisions after 10 years of sparse rain. The dam at the top of the Lachlan, Wyangala, has become a lonely pool sitting at the bottom of a vast canyon. It is only at 4.9 per cent capacity and the level is dropping. … Leoni O’Neill, who works at Euabalong’s only pub, said she remembered less than 20 years ago when floods in town were so bad, food was brought into the town by boat. ”I’ve never seen this little town as sad as what it is now,” she said. For the farmers in the area the situation is worse. When the flows stop they will have to start carting their own water. The State Government is offering a 50 per cent subsidy but many say the costs will force them to reduce stock or to leave. Sri Sripharan, water delivery manager with State Water, told the meeting if they did not reduce the flows from the dams they would not have had any water left by autumn. …
