Jamie Tasker is usually run off his feet at this time of year.

April means harvest time, and as the owner of Tasker's Garage farm machinery in Deniliquin, in NSW's Riverina region, there is usually a steady stream of business coming in.

But with zero water allocations for farmers in the area this year, he has been forced to cut back on staff and tighten his purse strings.

"Water is money," he said.

"Water is farming."

Water is life.

So it was no surprise that water, and the lack of it, was a major issue at the recent NSW election.

It was particularly evident in regional NSW, with the drought — and the confronting images of dead fish in the state's far west — creating the perfect storm.

It was a storm felt by the National Party, which saw its vote drop significantly, and former regional water minister Niall Blair, who resigned after claiming personal threats against him and his family.

Dust in a drought-affected NSW paddock. ( Instagram: zarakphotography )

But the state's water woes extend beyond the farm gate and its impact on the local environment — water is intimately linked to the strength of regional economies.

Mr Tasker believes that was why the National Party was so heavily bruised in the recent state election, losing support in droves and costing the party key seats.

"The fact is that the farmers have got no water," he said.

"They simply can't grow crops. They can't do anything."

He said people felt like they were not being heard by the State Government, and that the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers success in the seat of Murray — won by the party's Helen Dalton from Nationals incumbent Austin Evans — would have been a surprise for some.

Along with Murray, the Shooters party picked up the seat of Barwon and held the seat of Orange on the back of a wave of voter discontent in the bush.

But despite predicting in the run-up it would give next month's federal election a shake-up, the party confirmed it would only run one candidate on May 18 — Orange councillor Sam Romano in the Nationals-held seat of Calare — because of a lack of money and resources.

Shelley Scoullar in her rice field. ( ABC News: Kathleen Ferguson )

Shelley Scoullar is one of many Deniliquin farmers struggling to get by.

Ms Scoullar has only ever wanted to grow rice after learning the craft from her father, but she has been forced to imagine a different future.

Planting rice this year was a tough decision, she said, and as well as planting a smaller crop, it yielded only a tenth of what would normally be grown.

"We had a family meeting and we said, 'No, we are not going to do it [plant a crop]'," she said.

"And then half an hour later we came back and said, 'You know what, we have to do it, we're farmers'."

The business just got by with extra water carried over by an irrigation company to make up for the zero allocation in the area, but even tougher calls were yet to be made.

"We've had to put the farm on the market," she said.

"It has been really difficult because I have really found my niche in life growing rice."

Another town struggling

Over in Menindee, about 500 kilometres to the north-west, the lack of water has put a dent in tourism and threatened business confidence.

Mavis Pumphrey has been trying to sell her supermarket in the remote community for five years.

Despite her shop running in the black, no one wants to buy it.

Mavis Pumphrey at her Minindee shop. ( ABC News: Sofie Wainwright )

The long-term local feared shutting up shop would serve as the death-knell for the community.

"They [potential buyers] have the perception the town is dying because there is no water," she said.

The National Party received just seven votes at the state election from the booth in Menindee, compared to the more than 100 votes for the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers candidate Roy Butler, who was elected in the seat of Barwon.

She said governments had to be held accountable.

"I think it was a general rebellion against them [the Nationals] because they haven't listened to the people in their electorate," Mrs Pumphrey said.

"They [governments] just need to step back and take a jolly good look at themselves."

Back in Deniliquin, where multiple shops are boarded up, 100 people are in the process of losing their jobs at a rice mill after the lack of water impacted the scale of production.

Yvette White and son her Jack. ( ABC News: Kathleen Ferguson )

Yvette White is one of the 100.

She said it was frustrating to look at the local river flowing, knowing that policy — and what she called "mismanagement" — prevented its use.

"It seems very obvious that we have water," she said. "We are out on it every Saturday and it is flowing past us."

She said the loss of 100 jobs in a town of less than 10,000 would have crippling repercussions.

"Is their [laid off worker] partner a teacher? A nurse? Are they going to move on?" she said.

"Are we going to find ourselves in further difficult circumstances with a lack of nurses again?"

Her family is now faced with the question of whether they can afford to stay.

And the issue has the potential to be echoed when regional voters go to the polls for next month's federal election.

But Ms Scoullar said while politicians licked their election wounds, industries and communities would continue to suffer.

"It is our key issue, not just for farmers but for the entire community and I think that is what influenced the vote at the state election because people aren't recognising how important water is."