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ADELAIDE is at risk of relying solely on rain to fill depleting reservoirs amid warnings the city's water supply situation is at its most critical.The State Government yesterday confirmed Adelaide has only 47 days' supply-about 24 gigalitres-to pump from the River Murray from a 201-gigalitre "critical human needs" entitlement this financial year. The state's reservoirs are at 54 per cent capacity, down from 81 per cent in November, and holding about six months' supply, but this is the first year SA Water has been restricted in how much water it can take from the Murray. In a drought year, up to 90 per cent of water in the state's reservoirs is extracted from the Murray. Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists member Mike Young told The Advertiser if the drought continued there was a "real risk" of the entire River Murray system failing and Adelaide having to rely on water from the Adelaide Hills catchments. "The risk is if we have another drought like we had last year there is going to be nowhere to get our water from," he said. Asked to elaborate, Professor Young said Adelaide's water supply arguably was in its worst-ever state. "We're in this for the long haul – unless we have something like the 1956 (Murray) floods," he said. So far, only 12mm of rain has fallen on metropolitan Adelaide compared with 40mm at the same time last year. Adelaide's average rainfall to the end of March is 58.6mm. Before the entitlements for "critical human needs" being invoked last year, a Government spokeswoman said SA Water had a rolling licence, meaning it could take 650 gigalitres from the Murray over a five-year period. State Water Security Minister Karlene Maywald said SA had secured a further 201 gigalitres from the River Murray for "critical human needs" for the next financial year – and SA Water would plan its pumping schedule within months. "Every year, SA Water does pump some River Murray water into its storages but the volume depends on how much rainfall is received in the Mount Lofty Ranges and the level of reservoirs," she said. But Professor Young said without "above-average rainfall" the city was "going to be in real trouble because there will be no water to pump"."...We all need to understand that even if we have a relatively good year, before we get out of jail and back to normal (with no water restrictions) we will need to refill the Lower Lakes, the 30-odd wetlands that have been closed off, Lake Bonney and much of the New South Wales and Victorian system," he said. Mrs Maywald said restrictions were reviewed each month from rainfall and inflows to the Hume and Dartmouth catchments. Opposition Leader Martin Hamilton-Smith described the water supply issue as a "crisis", saying that it could have been prevented if the Government had planned appropriately. During Adelaide's 15-day record heatwave, more than 9 gigalitres of water was used, peaking at 728 megalitres on Monday.As in the days of Noah....
