The latest report on the state of the stricken Murray-Darling Basin is a grim picture, with June inflows into the parched river system the lowest on record.
The Murray-Darling Basin Commission's (MDBC) latest drought update, released today, shows drought conditions have worsened with just 95 gigalitres flowing into the system last month.
The previous record low was 106 gigalitres in June 2006. The long term average is 680 gigalitres.
Inflows during autumn this year were only 200 gigalitres, just above the record autumn 2007 low of 195 gigalitres.
"This is very disappointing and the likelihood of upper Murray inflows being above average for the remainder of winter and spring is very low," MDBC chief executive Wendy Craik said today.
"And until there is significant rain and run-off, the prospects for irrigation and the environment in 2008-09 remain grim," she said.
Dr Craik said with 2008-09 shaping up to be a very tough year for water availability, continuing pressure on the river's environment was likely.
The new water year also was likely to pose operational challenges with low river flows and varying weir pool levels.
Dr Craik said the most recent seasonal climate outlook from the Bureau of Meteorology showed a shift in the odds towards drier than average conditions across the Murray-Darling Basin from July to September, including the high yielding catchments of the upper Murray and its tributaries.
For the year ending June 2008, total inflows to the Murray River System - excluding Darling inflows and Snowy Scheme releases - was 2,220 gigalitres which was the 6th lowest in 117 years of records and only 25 per cent of the long term average of 8,900 gigalitres.
