The two bodies of water that so much of life in Wagga revolves around are struggling to meet the needs of the community.

The cancellation of this weekend's Gumi race is a blow for the South Wagga Apex club, the entrants - of which there were more than 60 - and those who would have watched the fun from the river's banks.

Just like how the New Year's Eve event, Skyworks, has had to scrap its water-based activities due to Lake Albert's poor water quality, the Gumi organisers made the best of a less-than-ideal situation.

It is one thing to have our recreational pursuits curbed, but it would be quite another to have the river's health such that it cannot meet the life-giving and productive uses we have come to rely so heavily upon.

And that is to say nothing of the impact on the natural environment.

To look at the Murrumbidgee River with its water level at just 1.1 metres is more than a little confronting.

Sure, records show the level has been much lower at times over the past 150 years since such details started to be kept.

But there is no doubt the drought, at its worst in the state's north-east and north-west, is really starting to bite here in the Riverina.

Of course, rain will go a long way to fixing all these problems, but can we continue to rely on the rainfalls of past years to get us out of trouble?

Is dry the new normal?

Data from the Bureau of Meteorology shows that the summer just gone was one of the driest since national rainfall figures started in 1910.

The BoM has released its autumn outlook and there is nothing to suggest any respite is around the corner.

Coming off the back of Australia's hottest summer on record, the bureau is forecasting drier than average conditions for much of eastern and northern Australia.

That is not the news a region desperate for drought-busting rains wants to hear.

For now we must wait, eyes to the sky, hoping the experts are wrong.

All the best for the week ahead, Ross.