2000s Australian drought
The emergence of La Niña weather conditions in 2010 rapidly ended the drought, and led to floods in some locations, particularly in central and southern Queensland.
[5] From July to August 1995 the drought was further influenced by a strong El Niño weather pattern associated with high temperatures.
[7] The Bureau of Meteorology has characterised the Millennium Drought as primarily affecting:[8] Although the period of the Millennium Drought was characterised by several El Niño weather patterns, which affect the entire southern Pacific region and typically bring hot and dry conditions to eastern Australia, it cannot be explained purely by natural variability.
The Bureau of Meteorology's head of climate analysis, David Jones, released statistics showing that in 2007 South Australia, NSW, Victoria, the ACT and the Murray–Darling basin all set temperature records by a very large margin.
"[9] Dry conditions began to emerge in south-eastern Australia during late 1996 and accentuated during the strong 1997 El Niño event.
[14] South-east Australia experienced its second-driest year on record in 2006, particularly affecting the major agricultural region of the Murray–Darling basin.
[16][17] In early 2007, senior weather forecasters predicted that the drought would ease along the east coast with a return to average rainfall from late February 2007.
[19] In August 2007, the Darling River flowed again after nearly a year of no flows;[20] however, the Murray-Darling Basin experienced their seventh consecutive year of below-average rain and inflows into the Basin during the winter of 2007 were still amongst the lowest on record, though marginally better than those of the winter of 2006 which had been the driest on record.
The rainfall dramatically increased surface water storage and soil moisture, effectively ending the drought in the south-east.
[29] By 2011, Victoria was drought free for the first time in almost 15 years and was instead gripped by very wet conditions and severe flooding.
[citation needed] Dairy producers were hit particularly hard by the drought with 2004 a particularly bleak year in the sector, as a drought-caused drop in production sent revenue in the industry down by 4.5%.
[34] In June 2008 it became known that an expert panel had warned of long term, maybe irreversible, severe ecological damage for the whole Murray-Darling basin if it did not receive sufficient water by October of that year.
[35] The very low flow to the Lower River Murray in South Australia (over Lock 1) resulted in the lowest water levels in over 90 years of records.
[36] The lowest water levels during the extreme low flow period were reached in April 2009 and represented a 64% and 73% reduction in the volume of Lakes Alexandrina and Albert respectively.
Organic carbon (dead plant material) that had been retained in the landscape during the drought was mobilised into the river system and the breakdown of this consumed dissolved oxygen.
Plans for a desalination project in Sydney were temporarily halted in 2005 after public opposition and the discovery of new underground aquifers.
By late 2006, however, with Sydney's water storages plunging to their lowest levels since the 1950s – around 33% of capacity – the authorities decided to reinstate the project.
[23][24] Melbourne had rain up to 90% below the average for September and October 2006, compounding the problem of extremely low rainfall from the preceding winter months.
[citation needed] Melbourne had also experienced high temperatures throughout October causing increased evaporation of water in dams and reservoirs, which resulted in their levels falling by around 0.1% a day.
The end of the drought and heavy spring rains in Queensland culminated with devastating floods in December 2010 and January 2011.
[30] In South Australia work on a small pilot desalination plant at Port Stanvac, costing $10 million and with a capacity of 100,000 litres per day, commenced in January 2008,[53] and was completed on 4 August 2008.
[54] In 2007 the Federal Government pledged to contribute funds and construction began on a $1.1 billion desalination plant with a capacity of 50 gigalitres.
In June 2009 the South Australian Government announced that the plant's annual output was to be doubled from 50Gl to 100Gl, approximately 270 megalitres per day,[55] providing up to 50% of Adelaide's domestic water supply.
On 27 April 2012, Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig stated that the two final areas in Australia receiving federal 'exceptional circumstances' drought support, Bundarra and Eurobodalla in New South Wales, would cease being eligible the following week.
[59] Research has shown the failure of crops and the financial problems this brings about can lead to increased stress and even suicides in some cases.
