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Thirst Turns to Anger as Australia's Mighty River Runs Dry

Reuters

   MENINDEE, AUSTRALIA - Reduced to a string of stagnant mustard-colored
   pools, fouled in places with pesticide runoff and stinking with the
   rotting carcasses of cattle and fish, the Darling River is running dry.

   The parched earth of Australia's longest waterway, if tributaries are
   included, is in the grip of the continent's most severe drought in a
   century.

   At Menindee, 830 km west of Sydney, despair has turned to anger as
   residents blame the government for exacerbating the drought by drawing
   down river water in 2017 for irrigation and other uses downstream.

   Locals now avoid using tap water for drinking and washing babies and
   children, saying it has caused skin irritation, and prefer boxed and
   bottled water instead.

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