For farmers in drought affected areas, Christmas will be a day like most others, with conditions restricting them from taking a day off. There won't be much to stop for anyway, with many families in severe financial need.

Firefighters across Australia but particularly throughout NSW and parts of Queensland, will spend Christmas fighting out-of-control bushfires. Some people living in bushfire affected areas still won't have access to their homes.

Many in our cities and towns will be alone on Christmas Day, with family breakdown and social isolation leading to loneliness and despair.

Christmas is the busiest time of the year for The Salvation Army. We distribute half a million gifts and toys, assist 300,000 people and serve more than 100,000 meals. We'll also be active in evacuation centres in fire-affected areas, and in distributing drought relief and Christmas cheer in rural and regional areas affected by drought.

It is our privilege to bring joy and hope to families and individuals experiencing hardship and despair. But we can only do it with the help of generous Australians who support us, to support others.

So, this Christmas, let's remember those doing it tough. By donating just $29 to The Salvation Army's Christmas Appeal, you can help put a present under the tree and food on the table, bringing hope where it's needed most. For more, visit salvationarmy.org.au or call 13 72 58.

Lieut. Colonel Neil Venables

The Salvation Army

Is it not about time we became serious about the security of drinking water in Australia? We are surrounded by water, but are not using it to our advantage.

To date there is only one desalination plant in operation in NSW.

The population of Sydney has grown by 630,000 in five years, (ABS); add to this the staggering population growth of the greater Wollongong area and you are looking at a massive increase.

We need to install desalination plants in the area. A possible location would be Bellambi Point, powered by solar panels erected at Maddens Plains.

Water could be pumped to Avon and Woronora Dams, connected to other Sydney storage ponds and eventually piped further inland to supply other towns.

I realise this would incur great expense, but instead of striving for a $7 billion Federal surplus, would it not be better to invest in more water security?

The proposed Snowy 2 project still depends on snow fall, so why not go the sensible way and use sea water.

Another area where improvements can be made is in recycling. It would be easy enough to provide drinking water via plastic tubing to the kitchens only and use recycled water for all the other outlets in a dwelling.

The drinking water would need to be metered separately and charged at a much higher rate.

Bill Fikkers, Tarrawanna