Broken Hill is located in the far west of New South Wales about 1170 kilometers west of Sydney
and 50 kilometers from the South Australian Border to the west.
Currently hosting a population of around 21,000 people, the city of Broken Hill is situated in a
semi-arid range land environment. Rainfall is highly variable, with an annual average of
approximately 250 mm with no seasonal pattern, as shown in Table 5.1. Temperature is also
variable with extremes ranging from -20° C minimum winter temperatures up to 460° C in summer.
Resultant evaporation rates exceed rainfall.