Water Emergency in Adelaide Australia

EMERGENCY plans have been prepared to supply Adelaide with spring water for drinking as experts warn the drought is forcing us to consider extreme measures.

Spring water suppliers yesterday said they had talks with SA Water about the feasibility of delivering water in either bottles or tankers to households if Adelaide's water crisis dramatically worsened.

SA Water last night said discussions with suppliers were held as part of "contingency planning" in case mains water became undrinkable because of poor quality.

Australian of the Year Tim Flannery, a climate change expert, said Adelaide was at a "significant risk" of a water crisis within the next six to 12 months, because of salinity and toxic algal blooms in the River Murray.

SA Water insists Adelaide will not run out of water but says contingency plans are essential to ensure the water supply, "including in times of drought".

...In the event of a water supply emergency, Mr Bailey said tankers would deliver water to drop-off points for householders to fill large bottles. In less severe cases, bottles would be distributed.

Adelaide University Professor Mike Young said the situation in SA was "much, much worse than many people realise". The Wentworth Group member and former CSIRO chief research scientist said SA Water had a responsibility to develop "contingency plans for the worst conceivable event".

"The scary thing is that what seemed to be totally inconceivable is now starting to look quite conceivable," Professor Young said.

"If next year is the same as last year and this year, there are no options left to get water out of the River Murray. The River Murray will collapse, that is the reality." Professor Young warned if present conditions continued, "we could end up with a system where we can't drink the water".