Damage to the economy. The drought has lasted six years now and the economy suffers too. In the last winter, fruit and vegetable exportation dropped by 60 percent, in particular because of the collapse of the wheat crop. In the first reports of 2007, the national office for agriculture foresees that the cotton crops will be reduced by half, since they require great quantities of water, and that the rice production will plummet by 90 percent. John Howard’s government calculated that the drought will reduce the gross domestic product by .75 for the 2006-2007 period. Canberra has nearly doubled (upped by 83 percent) the agricultural subsidies to help the farms hit by the lack of rain.

New projects. Besides tightening belts, various projects for the supplying of water are being assessed in the Country. Next July, Sydney will start building a desalinating plant, which will make sea water drinkable. Perth already has a similar structure, Adelaide and Melbourne are thinking about it; but these projects caused protests from environmentalists, since these plants require a great deal of energy to work. Even more controversial, however, is Brisbane’s project of making drain water drinkable. Local authorities had promised a referendum to decide the issue; but they then imposed their “yes”, maintaining that they could not run the risk of the project falling through. The state of Western Australia, among the most badly hit by the lack of rain, even thought up waterworks 3500 kilometer long, to transport water from a rain-rich region. But the project, considered too costly, fell through. However, if the tendency does not change, Australia might in future have to think up solutions even more radical than these.