SYDNEY (AP) – Australia's driest state has been forced to purchase water for the first time to ensure adequate supplies in the midst of a drought, a government official said Friday.

Karlene Maywald, state water security minister, said South Australia has purchased 61 billion gallons (231 gigaliters) of water so that Adelaide, the state capital, will have enough water for 2009 even if the drought continues.
""We're just being prudent, getting into the market and buying it (water) to make sure we've got it,"" Maywald told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
The purchase highlights the dire situation in South Australia, which some experts had predicted would run out of water by the end of the year. The state has suffered through drought for the past five years, and water in Adelaide's storage containers and reservoirs dropped 8 percent in the last year.
South Australia receives the least rainfall of any Australian state. Adelaide, on the coast, averages 20.8 inches (528 millimeters) a year but much of the state gets less than 9.8 inches (250 millimeters).
In addition to years of record low rainfall, the arid region also lies at the end of a river system that has seen falling water levels.
Residents are routinely under restrictions that limit outdoor use of water for watering lawns, washing cars or cleaning gutters.
Maywald said the state bought 8 billion gallons (30 gigaliters) of water from shared resources with other states, while 53 billion gallons (201 gigaliters) was purchased on the water trading market for between 350 to 450 Australian dollars per gigaliter ($225 to $290).
The federal government this week passed legislation allowing it to take charge of Australia's largest river system — the Murray-Darling Basin, which flows through four states. The system had been state-managed since 1901, but the protracted drought and overallocation of water rights in some regions prompted the takeover to preserve the basin's dwindling resources and ensure states like South Australia will not run dry.