Governments have begun work on keeping drinking water in the Murray-Darling Basin from running out. The basin supplies more than a million people with water.
Federal and state governments issued yet another bleak report yesterday on the parched Murray-Darling, pointing to potential difficulties in maintaining the water supply from next year.
The report contains not a shred of good news.
The ''water availability outlook'' is serious, and has deteriorated since March.
Water remains at record low levels.
The situation has never been worse at the mouth of the basin South Australia's lower lakes.
It will take years of above-average rainfall to get the basin back to normal. But the forecast is for more dry weather.
There should be enough water to meet critical human needs into next year, but action may have to be taken from 2009, according to a joint statement released by federal and state governments.
''Work is continuing on contingency planning in order to protect critical human needs for 2009-10 should inflows remain at or below record minimums through winter,'' the statement says.
''Governments would also need to consider how they would set aside water early to protect critical human needs for 2009-10.''
Governments agreed to carry on with their existing water-sharing deal.
They also agreed water trading markets should be used to the maximum extent possible.
The report, which focuses on the southern part of the basin, was released by the Federal Government and by leaders of the southern Murray-Darling states NSW, Victoria, South Australia and the ACT.
Water Minister Penny Wong said the focus should be on securing drinking water above all else.
In a move which should placate irrigators, Senator Wong emphasised the basins's problems were caused by drought, focusing less on the problem of over-extraction.
Senator Wong is under pressure to speed up water buybacks, and to force Victoria to lift restrictions on water trading but she played down this issue yesterday.
''We, at the moment in the Murray-Darling Basin, are facing problems which are about extremely low rainfall,'' she said.
''So a number of these water market rules, which are important in the long-term, won't fundamentally alter the fact that we don't have enough water in the basin to do everything we want to do.''
Federal Opposition water spokesman Greg Hunt said it was time for action, not more plans, for the Murray-Darling.
''Even today, the Rudd Government still has no plan for immediate action to help save the lower lakes. Instead they have plans for more plans,'' he said.
''We need the declaration of a national environmental emergency and urgent action to support it and those who rely on the Murray.'' AAP