Whilst typing this in Australia I am watching the rain fall, yet in the Brisbane area consumers continue to face tightening water restrictions.

For those who live in wetter places in the world you probably have never had to deal with watching plant after plant die. Having a lawn turn brown and having to mow to kept the weeds down as there is no grass left. You can’t help but be depressed. Whilst the media, politicians and others argue about whether it is the worse drought Australia has faced (on an already dry continent) or not the fact it from Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane - the main metropolitan areas - the dams just keep falling. Its not that there is no rain. Its that the rain is not falling in the dam catchment areas. What makes the situation worse it that the all the state governments have failed to invest in building new dams and water infrastructure. So now a race is on to build new pipelines and dams to fix the problem. However plain old common sense says a building a dam in a record dry is a stupid idea. You need dams built when rain is plentiful. So for awhile we might have large areas of land call ‘dams’ that are totally dry! Typical political solution.

In light of this many politicians have looked for the easy answer of using recycled water. It is true that while water from sewage can be cleaned this isn’t always 100% effective. Knowing how other government departments have recently been experienced huge problems that have been very well publicized e.g. health, the average Australian is very skeptical that they can trust a government department with being 100% safe in recycled water processes. They fear they will end up with sewage spills, leaks, missed chemicals or hormones (as experienced in London) or any number of possible stuff ups.

Desalinated water seems to be a better answer and some plants are being built. But the real truth of the matter is the only real solution is rain and lots of it in flood proportions. A couple of wayward cyclones may be the best answer. However even if the rain comes many are starting to become more water wise with better water practices at home and the installation of water tanks to catch roof runoff. Gigalitres of water are lost down the storm drains of Australian cities and this is the first place governments should be looking to answer some of the water problems. But even here the economy is not prepared with a min. three month wait to have a water tank installed.

The simple truth of the drought is this - prepare for the dry when its raining. This is a simple truth in life prepare for the hard times in the good.