Commonwealth legislation on water market behaviour governance and integrity is still very much a ‘work in progress’, or perhaps even a twinkle in the Treasurer’s eye. Like so many other integrity issues, it is in the too-hard basket. But now is the time to act. Water is abundant, tempers have been cooled, and greater attention is being applied to the complex challenge of balancing the competing uses of water and our river system. Waiting till the next drought might seem easy, but it will make reform many times harder.
The Western U.S. is experiencing another severe fire season, and a recent study shows that even high mountain areas once considered too wet to burn are at increasing risk as the climate warms. With more than 5 million acres already burned by early September, the 2021 U.S. fire season is about on pace with the extreme fire season of 2020. This summer has been the hottest on record and one of the driest in the region, with 80% of the Western U.S. in severe to exceptional drought. That combination of heat and dryness is a recipe for disastrous wildfires.
The current drought in Eastern Australia has focused the attention of all Australians on water but effective policy responses are missing in action. Isn’t it time to call it a water emergency? Quentin Grafton and John Williams report.
“Droughts are getting hotter because the planet is warming,” says Gergis, who spent a decade studying accounts and records of the country’s weather. “It’s not just natural variability that we are dealing with any more.”
In her book she also cites the CSIRO and the bureau’s Climate Change in Australia, that projects average temperature increases of about 4 degrees compared with the 1986-2005 baseline for much of eastern Australia by 2090 if global carbon emissions continue unabated. For Victoria, Tasmania and south-western WA, the temperate rise will be closer to 3.5 degrees.
olddogthoughts 