This unrelenting drought is bringing unwanted lifestyle changes - and there are more to come. The government has announced that if substantial relief rain does not fall before the end of June then category four water restrictions will be enforced in all those cities and towns fronting onto the Murray/Darling basin and the Murrumbidgee river.
Category four restrictions are draconian. Virtually all use of water - for industry , agriculture and farming is denied and what little is left is reserved for use within households - and ever there restrictions apply.
The Murray/Darling supplies the food growing areas of this country and without water agriculture will cease. Industry - including a major paper mill - may be forced to shut down and across all sectors there will be a rise in unemployment.
Lifestyle changes are already apparent. Visit any country town in that region and you find a clean car a rarity. Visit the local pub and you will probably be offered bottled or canned beer in place of the traditional schooner glass. The glass washing machines have been turned off to save water.
The days of leisurely showers are also long gone, particularly for families with several children. Now it is the communal bath - and the frequency is no longer daily.
The only good news is that this is a drought - not the installation of a new climate in which rain will never fall. We have had droughts before - and our knowledge of weather patterns in Australia is just under two hundred and twenty years old - so maybe this sort of drought happens with some regularity.
What is certain is that it will eventually end - and then we had better make sure we have learned a lesson and put in place the conservation measures to store water for the future !
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