IT'S bucketing down as I write this. The landscape around Bathurst is full of long, lush grass with contented cattle and sheep dotting the hillsides. Drought seems a distant memory.
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But even as the rain falls and new lambs gambol in the fields, global average temperatures continue to rise.
Scientists predict more frequent and more severe droughts ahead.
This is something to consider during deliberations over a new open-cut gold mine at Kings Plains.
Back in 2015, Regis wanted water from the Macquarie at Bathurst for its proposed McPhillamy operations; local opposition was so fierce that it backed off.
So Regis came up with Plan B. This is to run a wastewater pipeline all the way from Lithgow (gathered from the Mount Piper power station and the Centennial coal mine at Springvale), through Bathurst, to supply the mine.
Farmers and environmentalists have expressed alarm at the potential effects of this project on the Belubula River.
But leaving the possibility of pollution to one side, the Cadia experience shows that over time, gold mining operations tend to expand, with an escalating demand for water. If supply via Lithgow should prove inadequate in future, the mine could well start eyeing off local sources again.
"Water is more precious than gold," was the campaign slogan back in 2015, and remains true today.
More information can be found by searching for The Belubula Headwaters Protection Group on Facebook.
Will be missed
BATHURST Community Climate Action Network (BCCAN) members are paying tribute to the life and work of a fellow member, Dr Nick Scott, who passed away last weekend.
Nick was one of the first locals I met when I moved to Bathurst in 2003, as I arrived with a very sick cat.
At that time Nick's practice was on the Orange Road; he later joined the team of vets at Stewart Street Vets.
There, he sometimes treated Bertie and Taro, our Labradors.
While Nick is woven into the stories of so many household pets, he also cared for countless wild animals through the years.
Wildlife carers could take animals to Nick for treatment free of charge, and he was also involved in the project to relocate kangaroos from Mount Panorama.
In more recent years, Nick became active in BCCAN, helping to staff the stall at the Farmers' Markets and sometimes writing pieces for this column.
Vale Nick Scott, and condolences to his family.
