One of the many reasons Orange is a wonderful place to live is our sense of community.

We have a great blend of country town friendliness combined with city-like infrastructure and services (stay with me here, I'm not claiming we have comparable public transport for instance).

When times are tough the calibre of our community is tested the most.

Perhaps there has never been a harsher test in recent decades than the current drought.

Coupled with the catastrophic bushfire season we're having, it is a time of high risk for some, and high stress for all.

For the most part, our community has surpassed expectations regarding domestic water usage.

With Level 5 restrictions currently in place and talk of the possible, perhaps inevitable, raising of that to Level 5A, comes the target maximum volume of water per person per day (currently 150L per person, per day).

Our average usage (again, domestically speaking) is somewhere around the 140-ish L per person per day. We are punching above our weight.

You only have to take a drive around the city to see all the once-green gardens and parks, now browning or dead, for a stark visual reminder of the crisis we are in.

[On a side note: I have seen some pretty harsh criticisms of Orange City Council for maintaining the green lawn on the roof of the museum/information centre. From my basic understanding of the structure, in order to maintain the waterproofing of the green roof, it can not be allowed to dry out. OCC are doing a great job keeping our green spaces ticking along within water restrictions, although perhaps the green roof watering could have been better explained with the public?]

This crisis is testing our community, in many ways.

And given this, we must not only maintain the supportive community we already have, but we must dig deeper (pardon the pun) and band together even more.

Water, as we know, is not unlimited.

It is an incredibly precious resource and will only become more so into the future.

Groundwater may be our best source of water in the future, and without decent rainfalls to replenish it, it is also limited.

On the same drives around town, there are some residences with lush green lawns who display the "Bore Water In Use" signs.

This is where I have concerns.

Just because you have a bore, with water in it, does that mean you should be maintaining a lush green garden whilst your immediate neighbours and the rest of the restriction-abiding residents watch their gardens wither, die and turn to dust?

I know of several Orange residents whose bores have dried up because their neighbours sank their own bore and sucked it dry.

By no means am I saying people should not be allowed to have bores.

Nor am I saying that those with bores should not be allowed to access the water in them.

But perhaps, the answer lies in those in town with a bore exercising a degree of restraint.

Perhaps you could pause before your next watering and think about the community.

We have no idea how long this drought is going to last. We have no idea how long it will be until the next decent rainfall.

Surely this is the time for every member of our community to think of the bigger pictures - the long-term drought prospects for our region as well as the notion of what kind of community we want to be?

I have a great deal of belief in the goodness of our community.

We have shown time and again our ability to pull together, and we must do this once more.