The dams keep on rising

Climate change is interesting.. I am personally a fence sitter who leans on the side of better to be safe than sorry.

And apparently by definition we are still in an ice age anyway.

they are getting longer and more frequent

Where’s the evidence for that?

Like the Internet was a buzzword of the 1990s?

Doesn’t mean it’s not here.

Yes droughts have been around forever but the fact that they are getting longer and more frequent is surely cause for concern.

Drought isn’t connected to climate change?

That should be “If they can’t get their heads around that”

Well done Woody for making points based around facts rather than name-calling.

Well thank goodness that all sorted itself out.

Climate change is over folks, you heard it here first.

I guess now the government can get back to their plan of increasing GHG emissions by 70% and nothing bad will happen at all. Pillocks.

The world is changing, we are the cause and we have to fix it, even if it is going to cost us. If they can’t get your head around that, then why should we take the denialists seriously on any other matters.

I’ll promise not to flush my dunny all weekend, don’t want to be profligate and all……

I’ll go take a leak in Googong dam on the weekend.

He is a funny one that Woody one, easy to send off on a screeching rant……very amusing. Just a few points of note here:

The 65 year average rainfall for the months January to June is ~300mm. We only just hit that this year, thanks to whopping downpours in February and June

Doesn’t matter when and how the rain falls, the point is we are bang on average rainfall – as you say.

There’s always going to be pockets of drought somewhere. It’s not unusual for the east to be receiving good rainfall producing good cropping conditions, and for WA to be dry.

Gee those dams in Sydney back to 60 per cent, Melbourne has shot up to 37 per cent, Adelaide back up to 70 per cent or so. Wow. And with all that snow I think the Murrumbidgee will be getting a water allocation this year after all.

Not looking like Flummery’s doomsday predictions……

My money is still firmly on us getting up to 60 per cent by end of September. And we will see, won’t we?

It’s all a load of crap. I’m not going to sit back and watch ACTEW run at a substantial profit and the ACT government be in surplus and then listen to them winge about a water crisis. Stop counting your wads of cash and do something about it. Our joke of an infrastructure can’t support our population and it’s as simple as that.

I don’t often agree with WMC, but I’d like to see some water restrictions permanently in place – or at least a doubling in the price of water to reflect a more true cost of the resource.

Short term summer watering of gardens, hosing of footpaths and other wasteful practices are things of the past – like leaded petrol, agent orange and John Howard

In case anybody wants to read about what real, live, actual scientists have to say about the drought, here’s the BOM’s latest drought statement. A few choice quotes:

With the notable exceptions of Gippsland and southeast Queensland, June rainfall was mainly below to very much below average in the rainfall deficient areas of southwest WA, southern and southeastern Australia…For the 12-month period from July 2006 to June 2007, there were serious to severe rainfall deficiencies over southern and eastern Australia in an arc extending across southeastern SA, southwest, south-central and northeast Victoria, and the tablelands and western slopes in southeastern NSW. A large part of southeast Queensland was also affected, as were northern and eastern Tasmania, and WA west of a line from Dampier in the north to Bremer Bay in the south.

The worst of the long-term deficiencies are likely to remain for some time. For them to be removed by the end of September, for example, falls over the next three months would need to be in the highest 10% of the historical record in some areas, especially in Victoria and WA…This means that it will take above average rainfall just to produce average runoff, and very considerable rainfall to make a material difference to water storages.

Your hand is on it too regularly for comfort WMD

So you’re saying we can generalise about the whole of Australia because we’ve just had a bit of rain here? Or are you just fantasizing about my dick again, elfboy?

At least the drought is over in this area.

The 65 year average rainfall for the months January to June is ~300mm. We only just hit that this year, thanks to whopping downpours in February and June (you know, just like Mr Flummery predicted – no rain, then more rain than anybody can use all at once, then no rain…?) Every other month was below average, with some months well below average, and July is on target to be average or below average.

If the drought is over, that’s great, but it’s much too early for anybody to make that claim. Actew’s response to delay the onset of stage 4 restrictions and then wait and see how things play out – that is, to get some actual f*cking data instead of predicting the future with your ugly, ugly heads stuck up your collective arses – is the rational course of action.

Our dam levels got to where they were Woody because of drought, remember, not profligate consumption

“Profligate consumption” is where use exceeds supply, like it does now. Or are you suggesting that if our annual consumption hadn’t gone from ~65K ML in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 to just 51K ML in 2004/05 we’d have the same dam levels we have now? Or the fact that in winter we only use ~100 ML per day instead of over 200 has had no effect on dam levels? Seriously, what’s your job title at Treasury – Director, Nasal Crayon Insertion? Maybe you should spend less time staring at the bus stop across the road and more learning about the real world.

I’m glad you made that last post Thumper, because I am not sure why anyone would need to be watering at the moment.

Our dam levels got to where they were Woody because of drought, remember, not profligate consumption.

Your hand is on it too regularly for comfort WMD.

Flummery reckoned Sydney was going to run out of water before he moved states and nominated Brisbane and Adelaide. But he had the solution. Sea levels were going to rise by 100 feet because of gorebull worming.

So much for eco scaremongerer Tim Flummery’s doomsday scenario

Yeah, because small, recent changes in a local system (in winter, no less, when we use less water) let us generalise about the whole of Australia.

Bans on household irrigation systems should now be lifted, Actew.

I agree. Let’s not make the most of these small mercies. Let’s squander it like we did before – you know, so we end up where we are now.