My apologies to Samuel Taylor Coleridge but the rime (sic) really sums it up for me although I do appreciate it wasn’t exactly what the Ancient Mariner had in mind.
The on-going dilemma remains: why is it that our dams are running dry at a time we are enduring cyclonic rain storms in large parts of the eastern seaboard?
And more to the point is : will the situation improve or will it deteriorate further with the increasingly wild swings in weather patterns which are being linked to the world’s most significant challenge - that of climate change?
If, and I emphasise if, weather patterns become increasingly volatile (which many scientists say is certain given our current energy usage) it seems logical, all other things being equal, to predict that the current water shortages will continue unabated.
Whilst I have not studied climate change and do not claim to understand emerging weather patterns I do recognise from my civil engineering days that the means to capture rain in this country (in line with most developed countries) is based on a historic view of multiple and regular precipitation of reasonable intensity, not on irregular downfalls of massive intensity interspersed with lengthy periods of almost drought type conditions.
From a strictly engineering point of view, the construction of massive settling ponds of limited depth could assist in retaining much of the runoff which currently flows directly to the sea often wreaking havoc in the process.
This is in fact possible in technical terms, but we are talking about Snowy River Scheme type proportions here and naturally there would be numerous complex engineering, ownership, financial and usage considerations involved.
But it does seem clear the 21st century is posing some very big questions which will require some very big solutions and most importantly the vision and political will to make them happen.
Have your say. Click here->
Why not move Queen’s birthday?
The Queens birthday is celebrated officially on a number of differing days throughout the world although 21 April is the current monarch’s actual birthday.
Australia and New Zealand have turned it into a holiday weekend even though it is not celebrated this way in England.
For the record, Edward VII moved the King/Queen’s official birthday to the first, second or third Saturday in June at the beginning of the 20th century in the hope of capturing some of England’s famously elusive summer weather for the trooping of the colours in London.
Perhaps we could adopt the same idea. A long weekend in February would be nice.
However, moving the long weekend to two months before Queen Elizabeth’s actual birthday, rather than two months after it, would almost certainly guarantee better weather than we got this year it would clash with the Australia Day long weekend.
Republicans out there would probably suggest we forget the whole thing - but that would be un-Australian.
Have your say. Click here-> | 
