Drought in Australia worsens

Canberra: A decade-long drought in Australia's most important crop-growing region is worsening and there is little hope for relief from either saving rains or a new government conservation plan, officials said on Thursday.

The Murray-Darling river system, which produces 40 per cent of Australia's fruit, vegetables and grain, is facing an economic and ecological crisis because of a decade of below-average rainfall.

The Murray-Darling Basin Commission, which monitors water flows in the river catchment, said in a report on Thursday that hopes of the cooler months bringing drought-breaking rains had faded.

"Regrettably, the drought is getting worse," commission chief executive Wendy Craik told reporters.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has conceded that his government's new conservation plan won't produce results fast enough to avoid all of the environmental damage to the river system.

Government leaders last week struck a US$3.6 billion agreement to conserve water in the river system by reducing the amount of water lost to leaking pipes and evaporation from open irrigation channels.