Is Australia doomed?

[desertmonk]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070430/sc_afp/unclimatewarmingaustralia_070430013706 Seems that Australia is suffering such a substantial drought that major urban areas will be out of water by the end of the year. What can they do, or will this be a humanitarian crisis in the coming months?

[Maksutov]

No problem.

All the Ozzies need to do is not flush for everything and shower together.

Or are they doing that already?

:think:

[Moose]

Is Australia doomed?

Yes. ...Eventually.

[boppa]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070430/sc_afp/unclimatewarmingaustralia_070430013706 Seems that Australia is suffering such a substantial drought that major urban areas will be out of water by the end of the year. What can they do, or will this be a humanitarian crisis in the coming months?

maybe the cityites will stop wasting so much then ;-)

mostly imho its bad forward planning by the various state governments, luckily our dam dam is almost full currently (so brisbakers wants to empty it and dam the clarence river to boot grrrrrr......)
there have been no new dams built since (from memory)mid 70's and most existing ones havent been increased in capacity either

considering the considerable increase in population since then it was obvious to all but the blindingly stupid this was coming....

unfortunately the blindingly stupid seem to be in charge of water supplies in australia

:-(

[mickal555]

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!


Yeah we're in level 5 water restrictions here...

Soon it'll be poo water, but there's even only so much of that to go around...

Funny thing is, it rains enough here, just not where the damn dams are. Catchment area's keep dropping the ball. If we all had watertanks though...

That probobly doesn't help the people in the city high rises.

[Ronald Brak]

Yes Australia's in a bad way with the drought, but no, it's not going to be a humanitarian disaster. We have enough water to drink. We just might get a bit smelly, that's all. Also we still don't have completely rational water pricing across Australia which results in some people paying much less for water from the same source than others.

Fortunately we have the option of installing more home water tanks and drinking poo water in the future. At the moment we are sort of hopeing for rain. It actually rained here last week. I was so surprised I fainted and my neighbour had to throw a bucket of dust over me to revive me.

[Fazor]

"Fazor, the Aussies are out of water!"
"So? Let them drink Fosters!"

[Damien Evans]

YUCK, Not Fosters!

I personally apologise on behalf of Australia for foistering that "beer" onto the world

Here in Victoria it definately is a case of poor planning by previous governments, compounded by a total lack of accountability from the current government that has led to our problem


And no, there is no chance of a humanitarian disaster at all

[Damien Evans]

Besides, the drought is supposed to break "soon", whatever that means

[Damien Evans]

Oh yeah, and the primary reason for this drought (global warming ideas aside) seems to be the El Nino effect, just that this time it has lasted longer and been more severe than other times in the past.

Now, could global warming be responsible for it lasting longer and being more severe? Possibly, but right now we can't be certain

[Fazor]

I personally apologise on behalf of Australia for foistering that "beer" onto the world

I didn't think Foster's was actually an Aussie beer? (I just used it in my quote 'caus I didn't know any others). I know the stuff here is brewed/bottled in Canada like most American "imports". I actually like it though.

[boppa]

lol personally i always liked the XXXX joke(thats 4x's, not swearing btw)- a local qld beer(??)
why did qld'ers call their beer XXXX
because they cant spell `excrement'

now tooheys is a `real' beer...


;-)













no offense to any northerners intended and none taken i hope

[boppa]

I didn't think Foster's was actually an Aussie beer? (I just used it in my quote 'caus I didn't know any others). I know the stuff here is brewed/bottled in Canada like most American "imports". I actually like it though.


much like cocacola is aussie too???

;-)

quotes from coke bottle in front of me

prepared and bottled
71 macquarie steet, sydney, nsw, 2000, australia

;-)

[Matherly]

Well, the obvious solution is to send the Aussies some mass produced American Beer. As everyone know, that stuff might as well be water.
:dance:

[Roy Batty]

Naaa, send British real ale. Then they won't care if they're doomed or not :D

[Delvo]

Well, the obvious solution is to send the Aussies some mass produced American Beer. As everyone know, that stuff might as well be water.It certainly doesn't SMELL like water. :sick: It smells like... well, pretty much everything else that has alcohol in it.
:sick: :sick: :eek: :sick:

[Roy Batty]

It certainly doesn't SMELL like water. :sick: It smells like... well, pretty much everything else that has alcohol in it.
:sick: :sick: :eek: :sick:
You mean you can actually smell a homeopathic solution?! ;)
Ok, time for me to let this thread get back on topic before I get toasted... run away! run away! :D

[LurchGS]

as it happens, I live about 30 miles from the Coors plant, and maybe about 50 from a Budweiser plant... plenty of railroads here, too.. just need to find a ship or two to trundle back and forth across the big salt to get the Aussies their canned water.

[danscope]

Hi, With all of the wind power available in Australia, could they employ that energy for desalination? As they go forward, this may at some point make sense. There must be a way.
Dan

[Damien Evans]

well our state opposition certainly wants to do something of the sort, but our govt isn't interested

[AGN Fuel]

"Fazor, the Aussies are out of water!"
"So? Let them drink Fosters!"

Fosters I'd rather drink Ronald Brak's bucket of dust! Now if you're talking a Cooper's Sparkling Ale on the other hand...

(Things are grim - our local dam is at 13% even after some recent rain. Still, silver lining and all that - we haven't been allowed to wash our car for nearly 2 years!)

[LurchGS]

they've been worried about drought here - but the reservoirs are all full. The runoff from the mountains appears to be so severe that the engineers are opening the spillways already. This, combined with the predicted thunderstorms, has resulted in minor flooding downstream.

Water controls are in effect - you can only water your ... yard ... on certain days, in most local communities. These restrictions have been so effective that the water revenue has declined to the point where most communities have at least considered raising the water rates.

Joseph Heller must be laughing his wallet padding off.

[Damien Evans]

Where do you live, lurch?

[LurchGS]

In the states, I'm afraid. Therefore, you are not allowed to like me.

[Damien Evans]

ok, i can live with that

[BigDon]

The worst, most miserable time I had in the Navy was when we had to implement severe water rationing due to our ship's evaporator system taking a big dump on us while we were way the heck on the far side of the world. Three out of four evaporators went offline.

We were only allowed access to water between 7:00 and 7:30, AM and PM. As there was 5500 people on my ship at the time, the water was often shut down early as everybody tried to get a shower in.

And did I mention that the water we *did* have was contaminated with JP5? Thats kerosine to most of you folks out there. Your guts hate drinking dilute kerosine BTW. You plug up and get bloated. I understand it might not be good for your liver and kidneys either. Your laundry would come back smelling worse than when you sent it in and most of us were as dirty as orcs 'cause who wants to shower in fuel? This lasted for over six weeks. And didn't get better all at once.

And nobody feels like eating when you don't have ready access to water. This was where myself and several others came down with clinical scurvy. My weight was down to 135 pounds and you can't get comfortable laying down 'cause all your bones are poking out and rubbing against your mattress, especially the hip bones. I started the cruise at a lean 180 pounds.

Our cooks were the worst in the fleet. What a pack of no-loads. They were all due to get out shortly and didn't do a damn thing outside of their written months ago instructions. So if the menu said on day x you got chicken soup, well they made chicken soup..... without reconstituting it as they had no water either. Mmmmm, hot salty condensed broth is what the crew needs when they don't have water, mmmmm. So no fresh food was being prepared and it was all canned. Pickles, peanut butter, sardines...did I mention scurvy?

Once the first cases showed up it got to crisis levels fast. You see, if you are in command it's really bad for your career if your crew developes this. Not using your resources properly and all that.

I went to sick call 'cause I was feeling just miserable. The medic was cool. He heard my complaints, looked me over, and went and got a doc. Doc looked me over, checked out my constantly bleeding gums and mystery bruises, drew blood and came back with a big bottle of pills. Said you got scurvy. I recall thinking it was funny at the time. I thought this only happened to Columbus and his boys. (Though it really makes me mad when doctors insist this doesn't happen anymore.)

So I lucked out by being one of the first to go to medical. I got the good pills. The next day, 30 new cases, then 50, then so on and so forth. Gets bad fast. There is more but I've done bored you guys enough already.

BD

[Moose]

Don, I feel safe in speaking for a very large (but uncounted) demographic of BAUT when I say you should feel free to tell as many stories as you like. They've been interesting so far, and you're a better-than-average sea storyteller.

They're plausible, too, so that's definitely a bonus. ;)

[greenfeather]

Yes Australia's in a bad way with the drought, but no, it's not going to be a humanitarian disaster. We have enough water to drink. We just might get a bit smelly, that's all.

You have my sympathy if no one else's. Good luck!

People waste sooooo much water. When we had drought here in Pennsylvania I refrained from flushing the toilet and wasting a few gallons of water every time I made a 1/2 cup of urine. And guess what... someone at my job reported me and I got called into the HR office for not flushing the toilet.

I hope whoever did that, gets to live someplace where you get rationed to one cup of water a day.

It's sooo stupid. People have this aversion to *looking at* human waste. They would rather "hold it in" than go in a toilet that isn't Pristine Crystal Clean. What's with that???

I had built an aboveground pool one year. With all the droughts and water rationing, I didn't feel right filling it up. So, that project went by the wayside.

I also believe in 'graywater'. You can bathe in it (sponge bath) and then use it to wash clothes and then flush the toilet.

I'm also curious how rainwater and runoff could be collected by municipalities instead of allowed to go to waste.

Ancient civilizations knew how to conserve a resource. Not us. the waste in our society is appalling. Not to mention the people who run in terror from the thought of conserving or sacrificing in any way.

[RalofTyr]

Sounds like Austraila might have reached its carrying capacity with reguards to water.

They should have had a Mulholland back in the turn of the century like Los Angeles did.

[BigDon]

Thanks for the kind words Moose.

Greenfeather, I was in California during the drought in the 70's. Approximately 37 inchs is our normal local rainfall average for a rainy season. We got 35 inchs over a four year period with either the second or third year less than 4 inchs. We were conserving water so hard that the sewer systems were failing due to a lack of water to "move stuff along" so they asked us to ease up a little bit. That's when I learned that water companies will raise rates both to encourage conservation AND raise rates because you conserved too much. I wanted to 'dobe wall some folks, I shorely did.

[trinitree88]

Reverse osmosis treatment runs about twice conventional costs, which is not too ridiculous. Coastal access users should be encouraged to use this stuff;http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/seawater-commercial-detail.htm
Then you need to anticipate effects on the Barrier Reef with the brine released. Pete.

It's Aussie plantings of drought tolerant eucalyptus that has enabled San Diego to drop surface temperatures decades in a ~100 years of planting....and gradually work their way inland to the desert. They continue to do so. Barrel cactus, ponytail palm, sedums, date palms, olive trees, mesquite, all increase infrared albedo. Lower subsequent surface temperatures mean more rain when it comes, and less evaporation of cloud cover..

[AGN Fuel]

Reverse osmosis treatment runs about twice conventional costs, which is not too ridiculous. Coastal access users should be encouraged to use this stuff;http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/seawater-commercial-detail.htm
Then you need to anticipate effects on the Barrier Reef with the brine released. Pete.

It's Aussie plantings of drought tolerant eucalyptus that has enabled San Diego to drop surface temperatures decades in a ~100 years of planting....and gradually work their way inland to the desert. They continue to do so. Barrel cactus, ponytail palm, sedums, date palms, olive trees, mesquite, all increase infrared albedo. Lower subsequent surface temperatures mean more rain when it comes, and less evaporation of cloud cover..

It's funny you should mention this - on my first trip to the US many things surprised me, but the biggest surprise I got was seeing gum trees (eucalypts) scattered through the Southern California inland. Made me feel quite at home!

[Gillianren]

Greenfeather, I was in California during the drought in the 70's. Approximately 37 inchs is our normal local rainfall average for a rainy season.

That sounds high. Where were you?

Yes, Australians, Southern California's chock-full of eucalyptus. During one of the brushfires there when I was a child, the ones by the elementary schools where I went to kindergarten were burning like torches.

[Ronald Brak]

At one time I used to amuse myself by shouting "Gumtree!" if I spotted one when watching Hollywood entertainment.

I'll mention that Adelaide at the bottom of South Australia is moving into winter when it usually gets the most rain, so there is a good chance they'll get enough rain so water restrictions won't get worse. I don't know what Brisbane, much further north, will do as winter is usually their driest season.

[mickal555]

Yeah..
Sometimes it doesn't rain all winter, but we used to get heaps of rain during the summer. We just didn't get the downfalls these last few years, and the little rain we do get doesn't go into the damns.

[NEOWatcher]

Australia's not doomed, they found a solution to the energy crisis.

BEER POWER (http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=66966)

Now beer gives you more than gas...It also gives you electricity.

[One Skunk Todd]

Australia's not doomed, they found a solution to the energy crisis.

BEER POWER (http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=66966)

Now beer gives you more than gas...It also gives you electricity.

If that doesn't work they could try to find an orangutan librarian, failed wizzard and holy bullroarer. :)

[peteshimmon]

I remember decades ago being fascinated by an
illustration of a solar still. Polluted water
would pass underneath glass set at an angle.
Evaporation would condense on the glass and
run down to a side channel to run off as
purified water. I wonder if instead of using
a large area of land for such a facility a
large structure a few hundred feet high facing
south and having many rows of stills might be
feasible. Of course energy would be needed to
raise the feed water to the top. Might be cost
effective somewhere.

[Gillianren]

If that doesn't work they could try to find an orangutan librarian, failed wizzard and holy bullroarer. :)

And a half-mile high tower. Don't forget that. (It may be shorter from the bottom.)

[AGN Fuel]

I'll mention that Adelaide at the bottom of South Australia is moving into winter when it usually gets the most rain....

I hope so Ronald. I have been a frequent visitor to Adelaide and was there again in March. I have never seen it looking so dry - many of the playing fields that are usually verdant were quite barren.

[danscope]

The worst, most miserable time I had in the Navy was when we had to implement severe water rationing due to our ship's evaporator system taking a big dump on us while we were way the heck on the far side of the world. Three out of four evaporators went offline.

We were only allowed access to water between 7:00 and 7:30, AM and PM. As there was 5500 people on my ship at the time, the water was often shut down early as everybody tried to get a shower in.

And did I mention that the water we *did* have was contaminated with JP5? Thats kerosine to most of you folks out there. Your guts hate drinking dilute kerosine BTW. You plug up and get bloated. I understand it might not be good for your liver and kidneys either. Your laundry would come back smelling worse than when you sent it in and most of us were as dirty as orcs 'cause who wants to shower in fuel? This lasted for over six weeks. And didn't get better all at once.

And nobody feels like eating when you don't have ready access to water. This was where myself and several others came down with clinical scurvy. My weight was down to 135 pounds and you can't get comfortable laying down 'cause all your bones are poking out and rubbing against your mattress, especially the hip bones. I started the cruise at a lean 180 pounds.

Our cooks were the worst in the fleet. What a pack of no-loads. They were all due to get out shortly and didn't do a damn thing outside of their written months ago instructions. So if the menu said on day x you got chicken soup, well they made chicken soup..... without reconstituting it as they had no water either. Mmmmm, hot salty condensed broth is what the crew needs when they don't have water, mmmmm. So no fresh food was being prepared and it was all canned. Pickles, peanut butter, sardines...did I mention scurvy?

Once the first cases showed up it got to crisis levels fast. You see, if you are in command it's really bad for your career if your crew developes this. Not using your resources properly and all that.

I went to sick call 'cause I was feeling just miserable. The medic was cool. He heard my complaints, looked me over, and went and got a doc. Doc looked me over, checked out my constantly bleeding gums and mystery bruises, drew blood and came back with a big bottle of pills. Said you got scurvy. I recall thinking it was funny at the time. I thought this only happened to Columbus and his boys. (Though it really makes me mad when doctors insist this doesn't happen anymore.)

So I lucked out by being one of the first to go to medical. I got the good pills. The next day, 30 new cases, then 50, then so on and so forth. Gets bad fast. There is more but I've done bored you guys enough already.

BD

"Ah....Captain." ...."Yes, Mularkey."
" It's...the men,Sir."
"Yes,Mularkey. What about 'the men'?"
" "They haven't eaten in days,Sir."
" Well....you have lots of men; Force them!":D
***************
Been there, got the tee shirt. Diesel submarines. But...we had 'some"water.
Best regards, Dan

[mugaliens]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070430/sc_afp/unclimatewarmingaustralia_070430013706 Seems that Australia is suffering such a substantial drought that major urban areas will be out of water by the end of the year. What can they do, or will this be a humanitarian crisis in the coming months?

Bath in the ocean, using full-body anti-box-jellyfish hosiery, of course, along with beachfront shark netting, and rinse in a thin mist just enough to wash off the salt.

Flush? If it's so dry, why use sewers at all? Just use an outhouse. If it's really dry, you can simply dump in the desert, bake it, and use it for cooking or heating fuel, reducing energy costs/needs.

Sounds sort of sick to us Westerners, but it's a fairly common practice around the world where conditions are similar.

[BigDon]

Mugs, you're talking about places where people are old at 40 and dead by 50.

[danscope]

Bath in the ocean, using full-body anti-box-jellyfish hosiery, of course, along with beachfront shark netting, and rinse in a thin mist just enough to wash off the salt.

Flush? If it's so dry, why use sewers at all? Just use an outhouse. If it's really dry, you can simply dump in the desert, bake it, and use it for cooking or heating fuel, reducing energy costs/needs.

Sounds sort of sick to us Westerners, but it's a fairly common practice around the world where conditions are similar.

Hi Mugs, You make some excellent points. In future, we shall HAVE to adapt.
It could be as simple as separate water systems: potable water for cooking, drinking and bathing. Recycled and river soure water for flushing, irrigation of lawns etc. Proper use of what you have , and less waste may be an
answer.
Dan

[Ronald Brak]

Other places in the world use desalination. Australia doesn't. In a way we're spoiled because although the continent is very dry the low population means we haven't had to resort to desalination. Technologies for making poo water drinkable and desalination have both improved. I think osmotic desalination is ahead on cost, but I'm not 100% sure. Of course treated poo water can be used for irrigation and irrigation water can be used for town use.

[BigDon]

That sounds high. Where were you?

Yes, Australians, Southern California's chock-full of eucalyptus. During one of the brushfires there when I was a child, the ones by the elementary schools where I went to kindergarten were burning like torches.


You are right Gillian, I must have had a small stroke when I posted that. 21 to 25 inchs is what we get near the Airport. Boy, is my face red. Only lived in this town my whole live. Gaah!

And we have "Yukes" all over where I live as well. I lot of them are being removed as being a non-native, invasive species that the local wildlive can't really exploit. Their fallen leaves release a chemical that kills off most other understory plants so they can take over an area. Still some of the first to be removed were on city property and were huge, being planted in the 1880's or so. A line of them a mile long that were planted as a wind break for the Golden Gate National Cemetary. They have been replaced with native cypress. Another group of eucalyptus were planted about the same time on both sides of El Camino Real for miles so that the last few miles of now defunct cattle drives could be done in the shade. Only about five long blocks of that grove remain. Plus the is about half a dozen large thickets of "escaped" bluegums in my town alone, two within a mile of me.

Though I'm given to understand that giant sequoias have been planted in New Zealand and Southern Australia and really seem to be doing well there. So the world stays in balance.

BD

[Maksutov]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070430/sc_afp/unclimatewarmingaustralia_070430013706 Seems that Australia is suffering such a substantial drought that major urban areas will be out of water by the end of the year. What can they do, or will this be a humanitarian crisis in the coming months?I think the more important question is,

"Is Austria doomed?"

After all, Austria preceded you "lia" bottomers by many centuries.

[HenrikOlsen]

I'd think eucalyptus would be a really bad choice for undesertifying an area.

They may be drought tolerant, but that's because they have a godawful root system that'll suck all the water from a vary large area around each tree, thus reducing the ability for anything else to grow there. I'd expect that to be counterproductive in the long run.

[Ronald Brak]

I'd think eucalyptus would be a really bad choice for undesertifying an area.

They may be drought tolerant, but that's because they have a godawful root system that'll suck all the water from a vary large area around each tree, thus reducing the ability for anything else to grow there. I'd expect that to be counterproductive in the long run.

Well I guess it would depend on what you are trying to achieve. If your goal is to have a forest of eucalypts then planting eucalypts is a very good idea.

[jkmccrann]

The biggest problem we have in this country is the price of water. Its far too cheap, far too cheap. Water here is less expensive than in Northern Europe for goodness sake!

Northern Europe! The driest inhabited continent in the world pays less for water than a place like Northern Europe in which it rains far more frequently.

As to who uses the water, here is a basic table I found, albeit from around 10 years ago - but from other figures I've seen things haven't changed much in the intervening period.
Australian Water Use (http://www.ozh2o.com/h2use2.html)

Water Use in Australia in 1996-97
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Agriculture 70 per cent
Households 8 per cent
Water services 6 per cent
Manufacturing industry 3 per cent
Mining industry 3 per cent
Other uses 2 per cent
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Interestingly, that table comes to nowhere near 100%, but adjusting for that, it basically is

Farming: 75%
Industry: 15%
Households: 10%.

The reason the farmers use so much is also because of the incredibly cheap rate they get to use the water. They pay a few cents per million litres of water or something ridiculous like that - so they have absolutely no incentive to use the water efficiently! Its really an incredibly huge subsidy to the farmers, and one that's brought this current disaster upon us.

In reality, we shouldn't be subsidising our farmers in this way - the farmers should be paying the market rate for water, the same as everyone else - no subsidised irrigation which just hugely distorts these markets and imposes an artifically low price on our food. What that will mean is that much of Australia's current land being used for farming will have to be abandoned to desert and we'll have to import much more of our food at more expensive prices, but really I can't see anything wrong with that.

The only problem I really have with reducing this huge subsidy we give to our farmers is - when are the US Politicians going to grow some backbone and slash the huge tariffs and subsidies that they roll out to US Farmers - it strikes me as incredibly strange that in the land of the free, so many farmers have such a huge reliance on government subsidies and tariffs on imported goods to keep their probably uneconomic farms in operation - why do the voters accept such a Socialistic subsidy system? That goes for the French as well, with their lavish subsidies - but at least they don't pretend they're not a Socialist country.

[Ronald Brak]

What that will mean is that much of Australia's current land being used for farming will have to be abandoned to desert and we'll have to import much more of our food at more expensive prices, but really I can't see anything wrong with that.

There are many farmers who do continue to receive subsidized water, although less so than in the past.
Irrigated land is only about 1% of total farmland in Australia.
Australia is never likely to be a net importer of food kilojoules (calouries). Australia exports a vast amount of unprocessed food, grain and meat, and imports a much smaller (but higher priced) amount of processed food and luxury items.

[Ilya]

To answer OP question:

Judging from "Crocodile Hunter", I would say yes.

[jkmccrann]

There are many farmers who do continue to receive subsidized water, although less so than in the past.
Irrigated land is only about 1% of total farmland in Australia.
Australia is never likely to be a net importer of food kilojoules (calouries). Australia exports a vast amount of unprocessed food, grain and meat, and imports a much smaller (but higher priced) amount of processed food and luxury items.

It is true that as a country we do really create a huge amount of food - no doubt, but certain crops that are grown in some parts of this country - cotton, rice, even cattle - they just don't make economic sense.

As to the subsidies that farmers get for their water use, I find it hard to believe that only 1% of total farmland in Australia is Irrigated - I'd like to see a citation for that claim - much of the Murray-Darling Basin relies on irrigation channels for many of these crops, I can't see how 1% is a legitimate figure - I await you proving me wrong with that.

But back to the subsidies, given the scarcity of water in this country - we should all be paying more for our water, and as far as I'm concerned - until industry and farmers in particular pay generally the same price for water as we do as residents - I'll consider that a huge subsidy.

I think one of the problems may be that for industry and farmers - the more water they use the cheaper it gets - whilst for residents, the more water we use the more expensive it gets, this whole system needs to be rejigged to better represent water scarcity in this country - and above and beyond that we need our state governments to do their job and plough some significant investment into recycling plants, desalination plants, more dams, mandatory water tanks for new homes and whatever else they can do to ensure we're allowed to wash our cars and water our gardens at will again!

The restrictions we're all under are frankly a national disgrace.

[Ronald Brak]

As to the subsidies that farmers get for their water use, I find it hard to believe that only 1% of total farmland in Australia is Irrigated - I'd like to see a citation for that claim - much of the Murray-Darling Basin relies on irrigation channels for many of these crops, I can't see how 1% is a legitimate figure - I await you proving me wrong with that.

I can't prove something wrong as it's not technically possible, but farmland includes grazing land, which is about a third of the country so at about 25,450 square kilometers, irrigated land is less than 1% of farmland. About 18.36% of cultivated land is irrigated. Irrigated land does produce almost a quater of the dollar value of Australia's agricultural production, so that 1% of farmland is pretty important.