From today's Times - An outback town credited with starting Australia’s minerals boom and spawning the world’s two largest mining companies is running out of water amid a ruinous drought.
Drilling teams are in a race against time to find groundwater before the 18,000 people in Broken Hill, known as the capital of the outback, run out perhaps as early as August.
A devastating drought across Queensland and New South Wales has crippled farms and forced farmers to sell their sheep and cattle.
It has nearly drained Broken Hill’s water supply — stored in the man-made Menindee Lakes system 60 miles away. The storage system is now an almost bone-dry dust bowl. The once-abundant perch and murray cod are long gone, and its thriving bird life has taken flight.
Wincen Cuy, Broken Hill’s mayor, a former miner, says that climate change is causing the severity and frequency of droughts in the region to increase. “The droughts are getting closer and closer together and they’re becoming more intense,” he said.
“Without water, you don’t have an economy. It’s an essential of survival. It’s a major concern because without a big rain event or bores coming to fruition, we are facing some sort of crisis.”
The world’s richest silver, lead and zinc deposits were found at the site in 1883, spawning the creation of BHP Billiton, the biggest mining company. Rio Tinto, the second-biggest, also traces its roots to Broken Hill.
One favoured option to the crisis is to build a 200-mile pipeline to carry water from Australia’s longest river, the Murray. The cost is estimated at more than A$500 million.
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