A town in WA's farming heartland has made a splash with local producers, offering its pool water free to local properties struggling nearly nine months into a regional water shortage.
Lake Grace has recorded just 108 millimetres of rain from January to July — down about 30 per cent on its two-decade mean for the first-half of the year.
That trend has continued into July — with less than half its mean rainfall for the month having been recorded with only a week until August.
So when it came time to paint the community pool, Lake Grace Shire Chief Executive, Alan George, said it was a no-brainer to find a way to repurpose the pool water.
"Instead of seeing the water go down the drain or being put into he lake system, we thought the farmers might like to receive some free water for their stock," he said.
Stopping water from going down the drain
After securing the necessary pump and piping, on Thursday the shire put out the offer of free water to any farmer who wanted it.
Several phone calls quickly followed, and the first farmers arrived early that morning.
"They've taken several truckloads," Mr George said.
"They plan to take some every day if they can — but we'd love to hear from other people.
"If they want water, it's there."
What about the chlorine?
Chlorinated water and farmland is not a good combination — so the shire stopped adding chlorine to the pool about three weeks ago, and Mr George said he was confident the levels have dropped to a safe amount.
"With the sunshine we've been having and no chlorine [added], it doesn't take long to gas off," he said.
He said the shire had checked chlorine levels each week since, and he was confident the level of chlorine in the pool water would be comparable to the water coming out of a tap.
"By now it should be fine," he said.
Community comes together
Further south, about 90 minutes' drive east of Albany, the town of Boxwood Hill is banding together to show support for farmers dealing with tough conditions in the region.
On Friday the community will host a social event for farmers to show support while overcoming the combined pressures of drought and COVID-19's economic impact.
"We've got a lot of young farmers out there with young families, and everyone on farms these days are flat out," Ken Drummond said of the event, called "Operation Care".
Mr Drummond said the event would hopefully show farmers they are in the struggle together.
