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Irrigators walk away from record water prices
3 Sep 2007
Some irrigators in South Australia have paid up to $1,000 per megalitre of water in the hope that spring rains will come. With water prices 50 times what they were 5 years ago growers are taking a gamble that they can keep their crops going until it rains. The latest forecast from the Murray-Darling Basin Commission puts the chances of rainfall exceeding the average at only 50 per cent, leaving little chance that water entering the system will be sufficient to meet trigger points that would allow allocations for irrigators in the state to rise above the 13 per cent set for August. Renmark almond grower, Peter Thomson, said that he was prepared to walk away from his multi-million dollar investment, built up over 40 years, rather than gamble on rain in the spring. "I would turn and walk away from the property before I pay $1,000 a meg for water," he said.
The Australian, 3/09/2007
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