A " Drought " Tax !

The New South Wales government is toying with the idea of linking water charges with the state of Warragamba dam.  When the water level is satisfactorily heigh standard water rates would apply, but when the level falls a corresponding " drought tax " cuts in and the price increases.

This would replace the present flat tax of $2.11 per kiloletre with what would be termed a " average weather " price of  $2.30 per KL. When the dams fall below sixty percent the price of water would hike to a " drought price " of $3.32 per KL. That would stay in place until the dam level recovered to seventy percent.

The thinking seems to be that if the price increases the householder will take care to use less water and this would replace the existing rationing that kicks in when we face a water drought.  It is interesting that this proposal surfaced at the same time as a plan to double the volume of drinking water produced by a new desalination plant was shelved indefinitely.

In a submission, the the NSW Energy and Water Ombudsman  warned large families and renters would pay twenty to thirty-six percent more in a drought.   This plan would hit those less able to pay the hardest.

What this proposal obscures is the fact that the city of Sydney has but a single source of its water, and that is Warragamba dam.   That was where we drew our water when the city was half its present size, and as the city continues to grow it is forced to service an ever larger customer base.  This is being supplemented by stealing water from cities like Wollongong and Nowra which are suffering their own water shortages.

We were suffering an agonising drought in 2019 and that coincided with an abyssmal fire season early in 2020.  An enormous volume of water was used fighting those fires and we had the good luck that the fires were followed by copious rain.  Warragamba's level is presently holding near the eighty percent mark.

If the scientists are correct, Australia is entering a climate change linked to global warming which will see less rain and higher summer temperatures.  We have unlimited water in the surrounding sea and the only way we can guarantee sufficient for the city is by using desalination to turn salty sea water into the stuff we can drink.  We simply can not tax our way into an adequate water supply.

It takes time to construct a desalination plant and that should be high on our plans to insulate the Sydney water supply from drought. There is no doubt this city will continue to grow and in the future a higher percent of its water needs will have to come from desalination.  This drought tax idea is simply putting off the inevitable.  Desalination is the only option to ensure the taps do not run dry  !