The price of water should not be raised greatly

Currently, Australia is in serious drought, with water-dam levels at around 32%. They say serious times call for serious measures, and so it has recently been a debatable topic that whether or not, along with the current stage 3 water restriction, the price of water should be greatly raised. However, it has been proved through various statistics presented in this essay that raising the price of water is pointless and in fact will furthermore damage Australia's economy.

Firstly, agriculture. Did you know the average farmer pays $26.40 dollars per mega litre (which is one million litres)? This may not sound like much at first, but if it is taken into consideration that an average farmer used one thousand five hundred (1500) mega litres a year, that means that farmers are paying roughly $20,000 dollars every year - just for water.

Farmers are already struggling with the current pricing.

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FARMERS Zeppelin and two planes | 110522-5110-jika...

the farmer in love - il contadino innamorato

The VFFC (Victorian Federal Farming Committee) have been fighting with both the government and the water companies for a lowering in the price - and they have come out triumphant, with agriculture farming prices lowered by 7%.

Imagine what would happen if the price of water were to be suddenly raised - say, double. This would mean that farmers will be paying $40,000 dollars every year - for water alone.

Farmers, who are already struggling with the current price, will no longer be able to keep their farms running, and will have to give up farming and move to metropolitan areas.

Think of the impact this will have on the economy of Australia. With the number of farmers greatly decreased, Australia will need to import most of its fruit and vegetables, and, unable to balance import with export, [Australia] will in turn fall into a slow but steady...