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Emergency Pipeline To Stop Historic Australian Town Dying Of Thirst
Sydney (SPX) Jun 09, 2005 Australian authorities agreed Wednesday to urgently build a pipeline channeling water to a parched country town struggling to cope with one of the country's worst droughts. Dam levels at Goulburn, a town of 25,000 people just 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the national capital Canberra, have reached just 22 percent and experts fear much of the remaining water could be unusable due to sediment and contamination. The local council and the New South Wales state government agreed Wednesday to jointly fund an 8.7 kilometre (5.4 mile) pipeline running from a nearby pond system to the town's Sooley Dam to ensure supplies last until at least August 2006. Utilities Minister Frank Sartor said water may also need to be trucked into the town if the situation did not improve. "A city the size of Goulburn is significant but notwithstanding that, we've prepared for the absolute worst," he told reporters. Local farmer Jess Prell said the situation was dire with the community facing one of the toughest challenges in its 170-year history. After months of bone-dry conditions, she was sceptical about predictions that rain was due. "We've been told it would come before and then it hasn't," she told Australian Associated Press. "We can't just get our hopes up and then be passed over again. All we can do is cross our fingers and hope for the best." With 91 percent of New South Wales officially drought declared, the Catholic Archbishop of Goulburn-Canberra Francis Carroll this week called a special prayer day on Sunday devoted to breaking the drought and helping those affected. He said he was concerned that many despairing farmers were turning to suicide after four years of drought. "Even the old timers are saying this is the worst ever," Carroll told ABC radio. "There's been a high incidence of particularly male suicides and many people are putting that down to despair really, about the drought." Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express Water News - Science, Technology and Politics
Earth Sinks Three Inches Under Weight Of Flooded Amazon
Columbus OH (SPX) Oct 05, 2005As the Amazon River floods every year, a sizeable portion of South America sinks several inches because of the extra weight � and then rises again as the waters recede, a study has found. |
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