Talk to farmers and they will say they would appreciate a spell of dry weather now to enable their crops to recover, but more rain at the top of our catchments would help raise storage levels even further and provide us with years of additional supply and security that have been lacking for much of the past decade.

For its part, Coliban Water seems determined to maintain the same conservative and considered approach that has helped it manage the record dry spell, but we appear destined for an easing in restrictions to be announced as early as next week.

Coliban’s website tells us that while weather patterns have changed in recent history, one wet winter does not break a drought.

Perth experienced its best inflow season for 15 years in 2009 with 140 gigalitres (long-term average 300 gigalitres). This year the city has received a miserly nine gigalitres so far.

Perhaps it’s best to say that drought is never over, but that our climate is continuing to change. The forecast of an ongoing La Nina event should deliver us a wetter and warmer spring, but beyond that who knows?

The one thing we can all say for sure is that we need to learn from the mistakes made in the past – where once we wasted so much potable water and failed to adequately value the precious substance – and we must change our ways for the better.