Not a Drop
Regular readers may recall my previous rants over the issue of the drought here in NSW, which still has not broken, despite recent rainfall. I have in the past raised the spectre of “water wars,” a political/environmental scenario you’ll hear more about if you haven’t already, and which is affecting politics throughout the world more and more. This is, you’ll recall, the secret behind The Two Jakes, the sequel to Chinatown, albeit on a local level, but the issue of city versus country isn’t the only level at which these concerns operate. Although here in Australia, states are vast tracts of land and there is little cross-over concern, that’s not to say there isn’t any. Still, the problem doesn’t appear to be quite so large as that faced for many years now by California and it’s neighbours, or as is now coming up even between East Coast states. Of course, NYC and Upstate have long had a bitter divide over who gets water from where, especially when sulphur or iron make showering, not to mention brushing your teeth, an exercise in stoicism. (If you’ve ever had to, you know what I mean. It’s hard to explain otherwise.)