Nick, the biggest worry for people living down there like Eric is that when (hopefully soon) rain does break the drought the seriousness of the current situation will be lost in the jubilation of recieving life giving rainfall. Some very serious questions have to be answered and not just for the LGA of Brisbane or even the State Govt.
How could the capital city of our State get to the point where the water supply has fallen so very low without radical response in policy and admin of water resources?
Why are the people in Qld happy to so massively waste such a precious resource then turn around and expect to be bailed out by the authorities?
Having come to this beautiful part of the world from Sub Saharan Africa I was and still am appauled at the waste of water and electricty that goes on here. This country is apart from Antartica the driest continent on the planet yet we seem to have adopted non of the simple personal attitudes and activities that are the norm in other less dry parts of the world!
I really hope that the rains do fall over the catchment of the dams for people in the South East, to relieve the current situation, but I feel that in the long term we all have to recognise the part we play personally in perpetuating much of the crisis in water and other resources that we all like to blame on the politicians, industry, and global warming (and yes they all have significant parts in it too).