THE head of the Murray Darling Basin Commission says fears of a perpetual drought are not alarmist and the basin may need rainfall of “biblical” proportions to reverse the drought.

Chief executive Wendy Craik was at Burrumbuttock yesterday to launch a new commission-funded display of native fish and an educational DVD on the Living Murray program.

Dr Craik said the commission’s and National Climate Centre’s claims on Friday that the drought could become entrenched in the basin were a real possibility.

“The evidence suggests that the drought and lack of water are linked to global warming,” she said.

“There is a possibility that the sort of conditions we’ve seen over the past few years could continue and we all need to take that into account.”

“The way people describe it, we need rainfall of biblical proportions which is probably the sort of statement we are prepared to punt on at the moment.”

Dr Craik said domestic water needs would always take precedence if the drought continued and that critical urban, stock and domestic water needs were reasonably assured in the shortterm.

“The arrangements will look at people first and beyond that there will be continuous planning,” she said.

“Opening allocations for Murray irrigators are again expected to be very low or zero, though carryover water is reasonably assured in the short term.

“All governments and government agencies are discussing strategies.”

In the shorter term, Dr Craik said there are no signs of improvement in water availability in the Murray system over the next few months with rainfall during March and April below average and system inflows very low.

Flows in all parts of the basin are now “extremely low or have ceased”.

“While storages are slightly higher than this time last year, they are still well below long-term averages and the prospects for irrigation over the coming year will have to depend entirely on rainfall over winter and spring.”

l Editorial — page 56