; G l; V' n+ U+ u, O6 I- w# J# P 根据澳大利亚政府的一份紧急方案，除非在5月中旬前天降大雨，否则当局就要切断该国主要农业区默里·达令盆地的灌溉用水。- C, @8 Y$ k. W" g9 i) t
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对此，澳大利亚农民联合会水利负责人劳里·亚瑟表示，政府计划切断农业用水之举前所未有，闻所未闻。当地果园和葡萄园将因此干枯，需要数年之久才能恢复元气。为此，他们将同政府进行紧急谈判。 % W7 ]7 ^! Y6 C( t. k# E" N# L( q N" G8 b
当地灌溉企业也表示，他们将不得不在7月1日关闭水龙头，当地农民只能靠天吃饭，许多农民将被迫离开土地，届时澳大利亚恐将面临严重的粮食危机。 8 \5 h* [; @4 o9 c: R' ~3 s6 u' i2 J0 G/ l
Howard urges Australians to pray for rain . ]& D/ ^2 g( v' N3 g, t* `% H0 m6 ~- ^( Z
Sydney- Australians should pray for rain as the worst drought on record has parched the nation's prime agricultural land and put domestic supplies at risk, Prime Minister John Howard said Thursday. Without heavy rains in the Murray-Darling basin in the next six weeks farmers won't get an allocation for irrigation so that townsfolk further down the river system can be assured of drinking water. 2 |( f( ~" [& l1 } + a6 ?- i, |6 L% Y8 V"It's a grim situation and there's no point in pretending to the Australian public otherwise," Howard told reporters in Canberra. "We must all hope and pray there is rain." 8 p" t' m( y4 N' T6 C% M1 m" j8 Q# M/ e' X( r
Householders in major cities are already on tight water restrictions and these are likely to be tightened further to cope with a changing climate where temperatures are higher and rainfall is lower. 4 L7 M; I. ]8 U2 q
4 u7 ^' l" U+ t' s1 uMurray-Darling farmers account for a third of agricultural production and three-quarters of irrigated acreage like vineyards and orchards. + p! z! [8 S! z$ t ?, O3 G0 z : m+ k) y& t( ?$ O) eHoward refused to say whether farmers whose wells were dry would be forced out of business. - W+ Z; W- k' l, q2 a5 k * w5 P3 |- M: L* O( P( o* v4 ?"It will be another blow if it doesn't rain, that's self-evident, but I don't want to start using these apocalyptic terms in a general fashion," Howard said. "We know already that the drought has taken up to three-quarters to 1 per cent off our growth - the longer it goes on the harder the impact." 7 D0 j* R* y1 ~ . P8 u( b9 F; aNew South Wales Irrigators Council chief executive Doug Miell said orchards of oranges, grapes, olives and almonds would not survive the hot summer without water pumped from the Murray-Darling. ; o) j0 |8 Z' Z. m1 W4 R 5 V0 ~) h: V8 D) J, T"The quality of their produce, if there is any, will be a lot lower than it ever has been and I would suspect most of them would be struggling for income and struggling to survive," Miell said. 1 q& u. u! e! Y & Q: f! X+ p* d. U9 K+ g; S9 KGrape-grower Bill Caddy predicted the cut in water supplies would force many farmers off the land. "If we don't get rain in the catchment areas we are going to be in diabolical trouble," he said. 5 v5 N5 D# f. y* ] / j" m& n. I2 f9 kHis alarm was echoed by Winemakers Federation chief Stephen Strachan, who said the country's next wine vintage could be crippled because over half of it was produced in the Murray-Darling. 2 l3 z, Q( U+ r- k! t. E2 O# ?2 W1 r7 h( f( ], F
Opposition Labor Party deputy leader Julia Gillard blamed the Howard government for the water crisis, saying its refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol on curbing climate change was evidence of its indifference. 5 }9 P+ D5 p |3 {) p6 H, N 6 b7 a" \7 z+ {, _4 J {"Unless this country addresses the challenge of climate change, future water shortages and future droughts may go from bad to worse," Gillard said. "A mob of climate change sceptics can't fix climate change for this country."
