What are some of the reason why the River Murray is dyeing?
There are two primary reasons that the Murray River is in poor health: 1. Lack of persistent rainfall and other inflows for the past five years, with the worst drought in recent Australian history, starting in 2003 2. Extensive use of water along the Murray’s length for agricultural irrigation Although the Murray-Darling Basin receives 6% of Australia’s annual rainfall, it is by far the most significant agricultural area in Australia, containing 42% of the Australia’s farmland and producing 25% of the nation’s food. Water from the Murray River, starting from its clear mountain source near Mt. Kosciusko in the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales, is used extensively along its 3,375 km length, especially for agricultural irrigation (95% of water removed from the basin is used for irrigation). It is estimated that even in good years, only some 20% of the Murray’s flow reaches the sea at Goolwa, South Australia. The Murray is dependent for its water flow on rainfall in its catchment areas,
