'Day Zero' looms in Australian Outback as climate change bites

Yahoo – AFP, Holly ROBERTSON, September 19, 2019

Angus Ferrier stands by his few remaining citrus trees at his drought-hit
orchard Stanthorpe, regional Queensland (AFP Photo/William WEST)

Stanthorpe (Australia) (AFP) - An unprecedented water shortage in drought-stricken eastern Australia is driving home the brutal realities of climate change and threatening the much-mythologised Outback way of life.

From sunny Queensland all the way to Sydney, more than a dozen small towns are facing their own "Day Zero" within months, a water crisis reminiscent of the taps being turned off in Cape Town and Chennai.

It's getting hotter, it's getting drier, and adding to the misery, precious water supplies are being tasked to fight hundreds of bushfires ripping through the Australian countryside.

In the small horticulture hub of Stanthorpe, Queensland, a prolonged crushing drought has left water supplies at the local dam sitting metres below normal levels.

Despite sitting within the basin of Australia's biggest river system -- as do all of the towns running dry -- Stanthorpe is set to run dry by Christmas.

Authorities will have no choice but to truck-in water at a monthly cost of Aus$1 million ($690,000) -- a temporary reprieve expected to remain sustainable for just 12 months.

In Angus Ferrier's orchard, citrus trees that once blossomed in orderly rows now lie in a twisted heap.

Cattle feeding on a drought-affected farm near Armidale in regional
New South Wales (AFP Photo/William WEST)

His farm's water own supply will be empty within weeks, so he has dug up thousands of trees and expects to sacrifice the same number again before the year is out.

"They were eight years old," he said, pulling a dried flower off a gnarled branch, "so eight years of your life, gone in a day."

Radical measures

The local growers' association believes drought will cost the region's economy Aus$100 million this season alone -- an enormous amount for a small community like Stanthorpe.

Farmers are taking radical measures just to survive, spending a small fortune to truck-in water for their crops or renting land in other districts that have been less badly affected.

"I do know of some growers who are literally bone dry and have decided to plant nothing this year and practically close their businesses down in the short-term," Ferrier said.

Their struggles have had a knock-on effect in town, where shops are on the brink of shutting, and desperation has led to several instances of water theft across the region.

To the south, the entire state of New South Wales was declared in drought last December. Some reservoirs are as low as one percent of capacity, and smaller towns such as Guyra have effectively already run dry.

Water is being trucked in until a fast-tracked Aus$13 million pipeline comes online at the end of September. But at current water usage rates, even the pipeline's supply will only last the wider 30,000-strong Armidale district another year.

Grazier Gordon Youman helps a struggling sheep back to its feet on his 

property at Guyra in regional New South Wales (AFP Photo/William WEST)

"We are looking at alternative sources of water, not just that which comes from the sky by way of rain," Armidale Regional Council CEO Susan Law said.

'Sunburnt Country'

"A hydrogeologist has identified nine sites around the Guyra region where we will be drilling to see if there's groundwater there to supplement our supply."

Australia -- dubbed the "Sunburnt Country" -- has long been buffeted by drought and floods.

But scientists say weather extremes are exacerbated by climate change, which Australians -- even some in these conservative bush areas -- increasingly acknowledge.

The government, anxious to support the country's huge coal mining and export sector, has rejected calls to make fighting climate change a priority on the grounds this would undermine economic growth.

Local authorities are scrambling to respond to the immediate crisis with measures such as pipelines and drilling, but there is growing pressure for a national policy response.

Storm King dam near Stanthorpe in regional Queensland used to be a popular
swimming spot, but there is hardly any water left now (AFP Photo/William WEST)

That could include dam-building and more stringent restrictions on using river water for irrigation.

"You get the feeling that everyone's on edge because you've got to watch everything you do -- you've got to be careful of every little drop you use," said Stanthorpe resident Tom Hehlen.

"That can be very stressful."

Guyra grazier Gordon Youman said the very fabric of Australia's Outback is at stake, with many farmers suffering mental health issues as they face the prospect of going broke.

"It's that core of the country -- where mum and dad and the kids work together -- they're the ones that are going to be pulled down," he said.

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much.

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four. ….”

"2013 - What Now ?" – Jan 6, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Text version)

“… New ideas are things you never thought of. These ideas will be given to you so you will have answers to the most profound questions that your societies have had since you were born. Inventions will bring clean water to every Human on the planet, cheaply and everywhere. Inventions will give you power, cheaply and everywhere. These ideas will wipe out all of the reasons you now have for pollution, and when you look back on it, you'll go, "This solution was always there. Why didn't we think of that? Why didn't we do this sooner?" Because it wasn't time and you were not ready. You hadn't planted the seeds and you were still battling the old energy, deciding whether you were going to terminate yourselves before 2012. Now you didn't…. and now you didn't.

It's funny, what you ponder about, and what your sociologists consider the "great current problems of mankind", for your new ideas will simply eliminate the very concepts of the questions just as they did in the past. Do you remember? Two hundred years ago, the predictions of sociologists said that you would run out of food, since there wasn't enough land to sustain a greater population. Then you discovered crop rotation and fertilizer. Suddenly, each plot of land could produce many times what it could before. Do you remember the predictions that you would run out of wood to heat your homes? Probably not. That was before electricity. It goes on and on.

So today's puzzles are just as quaint, as you will see. (1)How do you strengthen the power grids of your great nations so that they are not vulnerable to failure or don't require massive infrastructure improvement expenditures? Because cold is coming, and you are going to need more power. (2) What can you do about pollution? (3) What about world overpopulation? Some experts will tell you that a pandemic will be the answer; nature [Gaia] will kill off about one-third of the earth's population. The best minds of the century ponder these puzzles and tell you that you are headed for real problems. You have heard these things all your life.

Let me ask you this. (1) What if you could eliminate the power grid altogether? You can and will. (2) What if pollution-creating sources simply go away, due to new ideas and invention, and the environment starts to self-correct? (3) Overpopulation? You assume that humanity will continue to have children at an exponential rate since they are stupid and can't help themselves. This, dear ones, is a consciousness and education issue, and that is going to change. Imagine a zero growth attribute of many countries - something that will be common. Did you notice that some of your children today are actually starting to ponder if they should have any children at all? What a concept! ….”