The township of Walcha, on the south-eastern edge of the Northern Tablelands, has more than 600km of gravel roads it relies on to service the community and its economic driving force - agriculture.

Those roads carry everything, from trucks bringing feed and fertiliser to trucks taking livestock to market, kids going to school, farmers going to town - they are socially and economically critical. But this year Walcha experienced a drought unprecedented in living memory and there was no water for road repair. At a time of social stress and economic anxiety, what could they do to keep the roads functional?

In this episode we hear from:

• Councillor Eric Noakes, who is the Mayor of Walcha and a local farmer
• Walcha Council Roads Manager Luke Andrews and manager of Water and Waste Water, Tess Dawson.