In
the weekend I was interviewed for the local Hutt Valley newspapers by
journalist, Jim Chipp. This is the article as it appeared in the Hutt
News.
Apart
from the odd small factual error (understandable taking an interview
in shorthand on a pad on the river bank) the situation has been
represented well.
Here’s
hoping some people will notice and start joining some dots
Local
dry spell or global drought?
By
Jim Chipp
Hutt News,
3
March, 2014
The
region's January rainfall was the lowest since records began in 1879.
but is it a passing dry season or the start of something worse?
It
could well be the latter, according to Alicetown river observer Robin
Westenra.
Karori
Reservoir recorded 3.8 millimetres of rain during the month, the
lowest since 1879, compared to the long-term average of 81 mm
Wainuiomata Reservoir got even less, with 1.8 mm, the least since 1890, according
to Greater Wellington regional council.
The
Hutt River flow rate at Kaitoke on February 1 was 1215 litres per
second, down 35% on January's average, which was 65% below the
long-term average for January.
If
the level drops below 600 litres per second, Greater Wellington's
resource consent requires it to stop taking water at Te Marua.
Westenra
has been taking an interest in the Hutt River’s changes for years
and says the long-term trend is grim.
“It
seems to me that we've had three really dry seasons in a row,"
he said.
"I
don't see this finishing any time soon.”
It
is far from a local dry spell, he said. Most of the world was
experiencing drought conditions, other than Eastern Europe.
California
was facing a 1000-year drought and declared a state of water
emergency in January.
The
water supply for Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo, was critical in
the middle of the rainy season.
Westenra
said the situation is the same across most of the world, as a result
of global warming.
With
the Arctic ice melting, the jet stream has changed its pattern
bringing cold, Arctic air south into North America and Europe.
At
the same time warm air from the south has entered the Arctic through
the Bering and Fram Straits, warming the northern hemisphere and
bringing drought.
“The
worry In my mind is not so focused on sea level rise. It's the
desertification of the land and habitat so we won't be able to grow
our food," Westenra said.
“To
assume that New Zealand's drought, and Wellington's water crisis is
just a one-off local situation appears, in my mind, to be pure
wishful thinking.”
Greater
Wellington is responsible for supplying the region with water and its
staff have taken a low- key approach, calling for restraint with
garden watering.
It
has been an "exceptionally dry start to the 2015 year"
which had added to the already dry conditions prevalent since
October.
Sprinkler
restrictions are in place.
Wellington
Water operations manager Noel Roberts said the Te Marua storage lakes
were there to underpin supply in times like this, but there was
quite a bit of summer still to come.
“We’re
okay right now, but can't know how dry it's going to be, or for how
long, so extra care from the community now will leave us better
placed to cope with worsening dry conditions, should that arise.”
This
indicates declines in the flow rates in the Hutt River at midstream
Here is the general situation in New Zealand as a whole, in terms of soil moisture deficit, one of the indicators of drought, commpared with the historical average and with last year (also much drier than usual)
Here
is how things look in terms of the south Pacific. During February
(which seemed cooler than usual) NZ sat in cololer-than-average
waters. At present NZ is in waters that are 2-3C warmer than the
historic average
You get your water from the amazon, why dont you tell them to stop cutting because its an act of war against you?
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you? We ALL get our water from the Amazon, if I get you drift correctly.
Delete