The Sydney Morning Herald: national, world, business, entertainment, sport and technology news from Australia's leading newspaper.

Water Issues

Woman swept to her death by floodwaters

Emergency crews scramble to repair damage from the second storm to hit south-east Queensland this week before another front arrives.

Sydney soaked

Homes and business flooded and powerlines brought down as up to 43 millimetres of rain falls over some parts of the city.

Storm floods Brisbane

Residents evacuated, roads flooded and homes inundated by water after South-East Queensland again hit by fierce storm.

South-east Queensland dams' thirst quenched

Torrential rain in South-east Queensland overnight has added two months water supply to the region's dams.

It never rains - it just pours at the wrong times

The loyalty of farmers is once again being tested by nature as storms bring harvesting to a halt.

Heaviest rain in months across western NSW

Parts of western NSW have copped a deluge over the last couple of days, and there is more unsettled weather to come across the state, reports weatherzone.com.au.

November rain: it's only going to get wetter

Summer seems far away with the whole of NSW set to receive rain in the next few days.

Tourists stranded as Alice Springs deluged

Hundreds of tourists were stranded in Alice Springs after the desert town was deluged with rain at the weekend.

Miraculous survival for man caught up in Queensland storms

A 23-year-old man who was swept into a storm water drain in Brisbane during yesterday's wild weather was found by rescue crews clinging to a grate and gasping for air, as a monster current rushed beneath him.

Photographer swept to death in storms

Man swept away in stormwater drain in Queensland storms.

Astronaut shandy on tap in galaxy not far away

While Australian cities push ahead with desalination plants, residents of the most expensive house the world has ever built are ready to swallow recycled sewage.

State pays $34m for Darling River water

The State Government has agreed to pay $34 million to buy 250 gigalitres of entitlements from an irrigation company on the Darling River.

A bottler of an idea in this throwaway world

An Australian company has become the first of its kind to meet independent tests for biodegradable plastic.

Recycled system not hard for astronauts to swallow

The international space station is about to go "green" with a fancy recycling water filter that will turn urine and condensation into drinking water.

Drought hope falters as the heat rises

Low spring rainfall and rising temperatures are crushing hopes for drought relief across the nation's food bowl.

Water from Shoalhaven to Sydney to end

Boost to dam levels, water saving, recycling projects and the new desalination plant cause easing of water crisis.

Irrigation districts may close as groups sell rights

The Federal Government may accelerate its environmental buy-back of water.

Storms cause flooding to north-east NSW

Residents in Inverell and Glen Innes were deluged overnight as thunderstorms brought flash floods to the state's north-east.

Drought aid down the drain

Billions of dollars in drought assistance to farmers and rural businesses has been inequitable, ineffective and divisive.

Big dry leads to a sporting drought

The social fabric of rural communities is being ripped apart by the drought.

Groundwater use unacceptable, says report

Australia's peak water body has raised the alarm over the overuse and pollution of the nation's groundwater supply.

NSW farmers face plague of locusts

Farmers in southern and western NSW are facing a locust plague as the drought eases in parts of the state.

Wet weather headache for drivers

Rain and accidents cause significant delays.

World concern at ailing Murray

The ailing state of the Murray-Darling Basin will see Australia condemned at the world's leading wetlands conference in South Korea later this month, environmentalists say.