Water Sources
In general, water for irrigation comes from two main sources, river systems and underground aquifers. Major river systems used for irrigation in Australia include the Murray-Darling system, the Ord River in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and many rivers along the east coast of Australia. This includes the Burdekin River Irrigation Area in North Queensland where irrigation is used during the dry season for double-cropping. A major source of ground water in Australia is the Great Artesian Basin.
Although the Murray-Darling Basin receives only 6% of Australia's annual rainfall, over 70% of Australia's irrigation resources are concentrated there, which makes up around 90% of the resources in the basin. It contains 42% of the nation's farmland and produces 40% of the nation's food. It can be seen that, in Australia as a whole, over 70% of water is devoted to irrigation.
Read more about this topic: Irrigation In Australia
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