‘I don't know how we come back from this': Australia's big dry sucks life from once-proud towns

Australia is experiencing one of its most severe droughts on record, resulting in desperate water shortages across large parts of New South Wales and southern Queensland. Dams in some parts of western NSW have all but dried up, with rainfall levels through the winter in the lowest 10% of historical records in some areas.

Sheep kick up the dust in a bare paddock on a
property along the Brewarrina-Coolabah road in Central NSW. 

The crisis in the far west of the state became unavoidable after the mass fish kills along the lower Darling River last summer, but now much bigger towns closer to the coast, including Dubbo, are also running out of water.

Residents of three distinct areas talked to Guardian Australia about the state of their towns under extreme stress from water shortages, expressing anxiety about their future but also determination to keep communities alive.

Read the story from The Guardian by Anne Davies, Ben Smee and Lorena Allam - “‘I don't know how we come back from this': Australia's big dry sucks life from once-proud towns.”