The past week has offered horrifying glimpses of Australia’s water future. Last week, the small NSW town of Manilla, located 45 kilometres North West of Tamworth, blockaded its bulk filling station to prevent water from being taken to supply Tamworth residents, where water supplies have plummeted to just 13.1%.
A few days later, we learned that the Southern QLD town of Stanthorpe had officially run out of water and was now relying on supplies being trucked 130 kilometres at a monthly cost of $800,000.
The latest domino set to fall is the NSW towns of Dubbo (population 39,000) and Cobar (population 4,000), whose main water source – Burrendong Dam – has fallen to just 1.6%:
