7 years on: What we learnt from the Millennium Drought

Barely a decade goes by when Australia doesn't suffer from a significant drought. One of the most powerful and damaging is also one of the most recent.

The Millennium Drought lasted between 2002 and 2007, and was actually made up of two drought stretches brought on by severe El Niño climate shifts. Colloquially known as "the big dry", the period left farm lands devastated, industries struggling and households concerned about their water usage.

Water storage came to the fore, as people focused on collecting and using their own rainwater to help the nation's lagging infrastructure.

In 2003, the Murray-Darling Basin dam – which the government calls "Australia's most important irrigation region" – fell to only 17 per cent capacity, and remained at uncomfortably low levels for the following seven years.

Authorities also called the Millennium event one of the three "most severe, widespread and prolonged dry periods since 1900."

So, what can we learn? While we may not see another event like this for some time, the frequency of drought in Australia doesn't make it a comfortable situation to live in.

Households, industries and businesses can invest in water-storage methods to help them establish their own source of water when drought does strike, and rely less on the public water system. As Bureau of Meteorology CEO Rob Vertessy explained in October, we're now more aware of the situation.

"The Millennium Drought made us acutely aware of how tenuous our water security was," he began. "Well into that drought we had a very piecemeal view of how much water was held in storage, present in aquifers, running in rivers and being used in rural areas."

To discuss how you can secure more resources with a polyethylene water tank, contact your local supplier. With a tough tank made from high-quality polyethylene, all Australians can take responsibility for some of their water resources.

By David Francis