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Article: Death of the rivers.(Bites: brief notes on news and views from around the world)
- Article from:
- Arena Magazine
- Article date:
- April 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Arena Printing and Publications Pty. Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Autumn rains have broken the worst drought in the memories of south-west Queenslanders. Yet for rural producers downstream in New South Wales it's as though the drought remains. For millions of litres of the resulting floodwaters have been dammed up by cotton producers in southern Queensland. About one-and-a-half times the volume of Sydney Harbour. This flood diversion has reduced the flows of the Condamine and Balonne to half their natural levels; it has cut off the long-awaited flows to the Darling and Murray rivers to the south; and the Coolibahs are dying on the dried floodplains.
A year ago, the devastation of our rivers, including the once mighty Murray, ...