Councillors voted unanimously last Wednesday night to approve a proposal to give eligible farmers access to up 20 kilolitres of free water a week from the Hereford Street pumping station.

The decision was ratified by council officers on Thursday and it started raining across the region on Friday.

And the man who came up with the free water plan, Councillor Jess Jennings, believes it is not the first time councillors have had an impact on the weather.

By his reckoning, the free water proposal came before council three times for discussion on the way to being approved and, on each occasion, it started raining just a day or two later.

Council copped some flak about the fact it took three months from the time the free water plan first came before council for it to be finally approved, but this might be the rare occasion when the slow-turning wheels of bureaucracy have been an advantage.

Now the free water for farmers has been approved, though, let’s hope we don’t see an end to the free water from the sky.

AND while we’re talking of rain, Parade never ceases to be amazed by how quickly the Bathurst district landscape can change.

Just a month ago there nothing but brown to be seen around the city as the long, dry winter rolled on.

But less than a fortnight into spring, and on the back of a series of rain events, the green has quickly returned – on the surface, at least.

The rain we’ve received so far is still a long way from breaking this drought, but we have to start somewhere.

It would be a brave punter who could confidently say what the next month or so will bring (even the forecasters seem to be struggling with that one) but, for now, we’ll take every drop we can get.

The city’s parks and gardens are just lapping up the rain as well, so fingers crossed for more to come.