ANDY PARK, REPORTER: Day Zero is the day a town runs dry, when a population no longer has the water to sustain itself and the daily job of supply must be trucked in by drivers like Kieran Smith.

So what's in the back today, Kieran?

KIERAN SMITH: 25,000 litres of potable water.

ANDY PARK: So you're effectively carting in water that will be drunk by...

KIERAN SMITH: Drunk, showered, everything a town would need for water.

ANDY PARK: So it's a pretty important job?

KIERAN SMITH: Yeah, definitely, 100 per cent.

JULS CROSS, PUBLICAN: I suppose it's like living in Tornado Alley - if you live there, you've got to adapt to the fact that there's going to be a tornado.

JUSTINE COOPER, DOING IT FOR OUR FARMERS: It's to the point where there's no water for the people. There's no water for the animals.

STACEY HUSSAIN: I say to the kids, "Only just get enough that you can drink. I don't want any wastage."

It's just the water situation is very dire, extremely dire.

ANDY PARK: For the residents of Murrurundi, who are now dependent on today's delivery, Day Zero was nine months ago.

PHILLIP HOOD, WATER MANAGER, UPPER HUNTER COUNCIL: Typically up to five or six trucks a day. We have two trucks that are operating more or less full-time and have been since January this year.

Day Zero is essentially when the supply at Murrurundi itself was not enough to sustain that minimum demand, that Level 6 demand and that occurred for us in January, 22nd of January and that's when the water carting began.

ANDY PARK: Murrurundi in the Upper Hunter Valley of New South Wales is one of several towns facing a water crisis.

Walgett is now on Level 3. Dubbo is about to go to Level 3 and Orange is about to hit Level 5.

Like everyone else in town, Murrurundi born and bred Stacey Hussain and her three kids have been surviving on Level 6 water restrictions for more than a year now.

What's it like living in a town with Level 6 water restrictions? What does it mean for you?

STACEY HUSSAIN: Well, it's damn hard.

Three minute showers, usually we can do it in less. One full load of washing a week and, um, no watering of plants, lawns, and no washing of cars, definitely no washing of cars.

ANDY PARK: And there's no Stage 7?

STACEY HUSSAIN: Not that I'm aware of.

ANDY PARK: So what happens if this continues? I mean, would you ever think about moving your family elsewhere?

STACEY HUSSAIN: I have actually thought of that. No-one has actually asked me that but, yeah, that is a possibility.

Sorry, I'm just looking at my children's faces when I've said that, they're like...

DAUGHTER: It's really scary to think that one day we might have no water in this town and we might have to leave where we've met so many good people.

ANDY PARK: Despite the efforts to truck in water, their family don't drink it anyway, preferring bottled water.

STACEY HUSSAIN: We, as a family, just decided not to as I said because of the strong chlorine smell of it.

JULS CROSS: It's just everyone's had to adapt.

ANDY PARK: It's not just families impacted, it's businesses too.

Juls Cross is the publican at the Royal Hotel.

JULS CROSS: We use grey water wherever we can but the main thing is keeping the business going without affecting the town because everyone needs water.

Well, because we use water for dishwashing, glass washing and things like that, it is difficult.

So we can't really do anything about that but as far as presenting the business in the best way that we can with the gardens, etcetera, we just have to let it go.

I'm sure it's the same for every small business in this town.

ANDY PARK: He says the water leaves a calcium residue on his clean beer glasses.

JULS CROSS: That's what it does just to the glasses, which were all scrubbed and cleaned yesterday.

ANDY PARK: The intense dryness here is even affecting the oldest standing parts of town.

JUSTIN CURRAN, BUILDER: Come around here with me, I'll show you. This is an original Cobb and Co staging post.

ANDY PARK: Builder Justin Curran is renovating these stables dating back to the 1860s.

JUSTIN CURRAN: We have this major problem that's shown up three months ago, and it is directly related to the drought.

So the drier it gets, the ground gets, the more this crack wants to open up.

ANDY PARK: This is what the town of Murrurundi is hoping will be the answer to their water problems - a 38 kilometre long, $14 million pipeline due to come online next year.

But you see, the water that this pipeline will rely on comes from the nearby town of Scone's water supply - itself a town now on Level 1 water restrictions.

JULS CROSS: I mean, Glengoran Dam itself is where our water is going to come from, is only at 55 per cent and half of that's allocated to the mines and irrigation. So I'm not sure how much it's gonna change things.

ANDY PARK: Phillip Hood is in charge of water for the Upper Hunter Council.

PHILLIP HOOD: So the water at the moment is definitely, it meets all the drinking water guidelines.

ANDY PARK: He says the dam the new pipeline will draw from is secure, for now.

PHILLIP HOOD: The dam, although being a little less than half, is still significant in volume compared to the demands of a town like Murrurundi or even Scone.

ANDY PARK: So I suppose the big question is what happens if the drought continues?

PHILLIP HOOD: In February, at the council meeting, it was adopted to recognise climate change as an emergency.

I think, as an Australian, I would be continually concerned about long-term water supply, but in a holistic sense.

STACEY HUSSAIN: I don't think people will go out and go crazy and use a whole heap of water once we do get that water pipeline.

As I said, because we all know the dire consequences that we're in.

ANDY PARK: In the meantime, the town is doing what country towns do best - making sure no-one is left behind.

JUSTINE COOPER: So have you had many people come in for water today?

VOLUNTEER: Yep, we've had five lots.

ANDY PARK: Justine Cooper operates a volunteer-run free food and water pantry in town for local farmers struggling to make ends meet.

JUSTINE COOPER: Those little streams that were coming down and they were able to feed their stock through, that's dried up.

We're getting loads of water out to them, filling their tanks up as well.

It's to the point where there's no water for the people, there's no water for the animals.

ANDY PARK: For the youngest members of the Hussain family, having no water is a new normal and comes with a warning for other towns headed towards the same fate as theirs.

DAUGHTER: You need to be careful with the waters like, you can't, you can't like just turn on your tap and, like, water all your plants, 'cause that's just a big waste for not just you but like everyone.