You don't know what you've got till it's gone.
While this adage is generally applied to love, it could easily be applied to water.
Water, after all, is the source of all life. This is easy to forget when you're having a 15-minute shower, brushing your teeth with the tap running or hosing the leaves off the path to make it look pretty.
The Lower Hunter - like the rest of NSW - has been feeling the drought.
This is why news emerged this week that Hunter Water has lodged an environmental impact statement for a $100 million desalination plant at Belmont.
Construction of the plant will begin when water storage levels fall between 35 to 40 per cent. If the drought continues on its parched path, this point is expected to be reached in the middle of next year.
When drought strikes, water conservation becomes a badge of honour. People take pride in not washing their car and sales of water tanks rise.
Lower Hunter residents have answered the recent call to arms, with water consumption falling by 12 per cent over the past five weeks.
It's somewhat remarkable that this is the first time the Lower Hunter has faced water restrictions in 25 years.
But the spectre of climate change means this good fortune could be changing.
NSW Minister for Water Melinda Pavey summed up the situation succinctly when she said on Monday that "NSW is experiencing the worst drought on record".
In the Upper Hunter, water security is also being discussed. There's talk of a pipeline between the Lower Hunter and Singleton.
And former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce told the Newcastle Herald a fortnight ago that a new dam was needed in the Upper Hunter.
Mr Joyce's New England electorate falls into the proposed Camerons Dam site between Scone and Murrurundi.
Talk of dams, though, is sure to raise the ire of environmentalists. The Nature Conservation Council has already said Camerons Gorge Nature Reserve, which will be affected by this proposal, is a crucial vegetation corridor.
Plus, there are other options to be explored. Ms Pavey, for example, said it was essential that other water security measures, such as recycling, were pursued in addition to desalination.
And Hunter Water has said it is exploring all avenues for conserving water and reducing demand on drinking water supplies.
This includes the utility's Love Water conservation campaign, recycled water opportunities and reduced leakage across the network.
"When people love something they protect it, care for it and value it," former Hunter Water managing director Jim Bentley has said about the Love Water campaign.
He's right. We should all love water more.
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