Grim prospects for Australian river system as drought bites:official

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2008

SYDNEY (AFP) — Rivers in Australia's most important farming region are in critical condition thanks to the long-running drought, with no sign of an end to the 'big dry,' officials said Tuesday.

The Murray-Darling Basin Commission, which monitors the east coast region that accounts for some 40 percent of the nation's farming production, said the level of water entering the Murray River was at a record low.

Winter inflows were at their equal fifth-lowest in 117 years of records while in the two years to August, water entering the system was at a record low after persistent poor rainfall over the past seven years.

"We're continuing to establish new records that we don't particularly wish to establish," the commission's chief executive Wendy Craik told...