Originally published in Crikey, 27 November 2012
Four of the world’s great river systems, including the Murray-Darling Basin, are suffering significantly from reduced water flows. A new report shows that water extraction has the biggest impact on the health of a river.
One of the report’s authors, Dr Jamie Pittock, told Crikey: ”While climate change will aggravate changes in flows in river systems, current high levels of water extractions remain the principal contributor to reduced flows and degradation of these rivers.”
The paper, Global insights into water resources, climate change and governance, was published yesterday in Nature Climate Change. The study was conducted by ANU researchers Professor Quentin Grafton, Dr Jamie Pittock, Professor Tom Kompas, Daniel Connell and other colleagues from around the world, who looked at the health of the US Colorado River, the South African Orange River, the Chinese Yellow River and the Murray-Darling River system.
You can read the full article at Crikey.com.au