Gardens are dead, people skip showers and water quality has worsened — the big dry dominates conversation in coffee shops, pubs and homes.
This is what day zero is like in Australia, as an unprecedented drought leaves 55 towns at risk of running out of water, if they haven't already.
It's forced states and councils to fork out hundreds of millions of dollars on emergency water infrastructure.
How much water is left?
An ABC analysis of data provided by state and local governments paints a dire picture across New South Wales, Queensland and parts of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
It is a situation changing weekly as recent and forecast rainfall tops up thirsty weirs, rivers and dams.
The map below shows how many months towns have left based on worst-case scenarios (if it does not rain and if water infrastructure plans and upgrades fail).
The saviour for some towns has been, and will be, bore water.
This water is accessed by drilling into underground aquifers or water storages and pumping it to the surface.
Bore water needs to be tested and treated, but it has become a vital back-up for numerous towns reliant on dams and rivers.
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Photo: Tenterfield pre-school children learn to soap their hands with the tap off to conserve water. (ABC News: Lucy Barbour)
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