Rain from northern NSW arrives in bone dry drought-ravaged towns
For many country kids battling through one of the worst droughts on record, water running through their local rivers was a sight to behold this week. And there’s more good news to come - including the end of muddy baths.
NSW
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With their ears to the dirt in the dry Darling river, kids from the Back O’ Bourke heard the torrent of water before they saw it.
For the first time in their lives, siblings Casey and Talita Cohen, aged four and five, can see fast flowing water in the river at the bottom of their backyard at Louth in northwest NSW.
Children in the tiny town played excitedly on the dry and cracked river bed while they waited for the deluge to arrive upstream, before scampering up to the Louth Bridge, out of harm’s way.
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Adults in Louth were ecstatic to see the river run but the foreign sight unnerved youngsters.
“Talita was horrified at the sight of the river,” Ms McInerney said.
“She’s never seen the river so high – she’s only ever seen a trickle and small pools.
“I had to explain to her that it’s great we finally have lots of water in the river and that’s what it’s supposed to look like.”
More than 250 billion litres of rain that fell in the state’s north earlier this month will continue to rush past Louth until early March, by which time water will reach Lake Wetherell at the top of the Menindee Lakes for the first time in close to three years.
One million fish, including Murray cod, Silver Perch, Golden Perch and Bony Herring, suffocated in disconnected and drying pools at Menindee Lakes last summer.
But by the time the water reaches the Menindee Lakes, 100 billion litres will have seeped into cracks, weir pools and natural holes in the river.
The water arrived at Tilpa, 60km downstream from Louth, yesterday.
Even though they live near the river, mum Mandy McInerney, 38, has never had reason to teach her children about water safety.
As a stopgap measure, Casey and Talita are under the false impression there are sharks and crocodiles swimming around in the river, so they don’t get too close to the water’s edge.
“The river’s flowing incredibly fast an it’s incredibly dangerous,” Ms McIntyre said.
“I had to tell her and her younger brother there were crocs and sharks in the river because they are fascinated by the water and they want to swim.”
The mighty river was reduced to stagnant pools contaminated with blue-green algae at levels considered “toxic to humans and animals” in December 2018, which smelled like rotten eggs and left Louth locals feeling dirtier after a bath than before they got in.
The flow has flushed away the dirty and contaminated water the Cohen kids were forced to bathe in for the past year, which looked more like chocolate milk than water.
“The water for baths comes straight out of the Darling River, which was green and murky and yuck,” Ms McInerney said.
“Now the kids are enjoying the clearest baths they have ever had.”
The flow also means locals no longer need to boil water before washing their dishes.
While full rivers come as welcome relief, the state’s rural water storages for drinking water are collectively only 23.7 per cent full after a minor 0.4 per cent rise last week.
The Split Rock Dam, which supplies drinking water to Manilla, is at 4 per cent; the Burrendong Dam, which supplies drinking water to Dubbo, is at 4.2 per cent capacity; the Copeton Dam, which supplies drinking water for Inverell, is at 10 per cent capacity; the Keepit Dam, which supplies drinking water to Walgett, is at 10 per cent capacity; the Wyangala Dam, which supplies drinking water to Cowra, is at 10 per cent capacity; and the Chaffey Dam, which supplies drinking water to Tamworth, is at 15 per cent capacity.
Originally published as Rain from northern NSW arrives in bone dry drought-ravaged towns