The government has decided that rain flowing into farm dams belongs to no one and that all run-off is to be controlled and regulated by government. Rain may water crops or grass where it falls or be collected for home use and stock troughs.

However, as soon as rain turns into run-off and is used for irrigating crops, put into a dam, or used for anything resembling a commercial purpose, it must be paid for. Understandably, some Victorian farmers are agitated enough to launch legal action against the government and its legislation.

Water is a very precious resource which is not only "harvested" but is now farmed. Rain farms are recent, but very profitable, commercial ventures. Not surprisingly, Queensland companies are leading the way and are hoping to expand their very cost-effective enterprises to New Zealand, Hawaii, Central America and the Seychelles.

Canadian journalist Marq de Villiers contends that the problem is not so much that there isn't enough water, it's that water isn't where we want it and, it might be argued, we don't get water when we want it. In Australia we are familiar with bushfires in December and January, floods in February and March, and long dry spells in between.

Water Wars: Is the World's Water Running Out? adopts a global approach to the problems of water supply. Marq de Villiers examines topics such as water in history, desertification, and the effect of climate change on rainfall, pollution, water shortage and social collapse, the problem of dams, and the very real possibilities of large-scale water wars.

Smaller scale water wars already take place in Australia. State governments fight with each other and against the federal government, and local authorities tangle over water rights. As drought spreads, water becomes an even more precious and expensive commodity.

ABC current affairs reporter Ticky Fullerton examines similar issues as Marq de Villiers, but provides a uniquely Australian perspective. Dams, irrigation, salinity, pollution, conservation, and clean water are topics for investigation in Watershed: Deciding Our Water Future.

Australians need to have more realistic expectations of what this continent's agriculture and industries can produce. Good soils and plentiful water supplies are not in abundance.

Unrealistic or optimistic expectations have resulted in the desire to tame the land, to make nature submit to concrete and brick, to yield to fertilisers and insecticides, and to surrender to the grand plans of dreamers who wish to force rivers to flow inland to water vast deserts.

Water supply is a critical issue, which will occupy more of our thinking as we attempt to balance the requirements of economic sustainability against those of environmental conservation.

These two books show that the scales must be correctly weighted, as the two areas are interdependent.