Sydney Water - Smoke and mirrors !

The average householder understands just two things about Sydney Water.   Over a year ago Warragamba dam was drought affected and the water supply was in danger - and since then the price of water has gone through the roof.

It's all a matter of a bunch of government accountants juggling the books to try and achieve a mix of outcomes - and hiding that behind " smoke and mirrors ".

When Warragamba dam was at thirty percent capacity the previous government did two things.  It built a pumping pipeline from Tallowa dam on the upper Shoalhaven river, two hundred miles from Sydney to draw trillions of gallons of water to supplement Warragamba - and it built the desalination plant at Kurnell at a cost of a billion dollars.

The accounting rules were fairly simple.  The desalination plant would produce fifteen percent of  of Sydney's drinking water whenever the level at Warragamba was below eighty percent capacity - and this would add about $ 96 a year to residents water bills.

But - then Mother Nature got in the act - and in the past year we have had abnormal rainfall.  Strangely,  Warragamba seems to be perpetually hovering at just 78.9% capacity - and it never seems to reach that 80% - at which the desalination plant would shut down and be put into reserve to await the next drought.

The balancing act is performed by that pipeline from the Tallowa dam on the Shoalhaven river.   Warragamba would be full to overflowing now if that had been kept pumping, but the government is keen to sell the desalination plant to private enterprise - and to make it economically attractive it must be kept working - and that will only happen if the Warragamba level is prevented from rising above eighty percent.

So - we have water from Tallowa running to waste while we use expensive desalinated water to  maintain the economic mirage for those interested in buying the desalination plant - and getting the government off a financial hook.

It's a pity about that extra $96 a year each household is forking out for water, but then again perhaps the long term benefit makes it worthwhile.     The law of probability says that sooner or later we will experience another drought - and each year the greater Sydney area grows by many hundreds of thousands of people - who all use water.

At least it explains why Warragamba dam remains stubbornly stuck just below eighty percent capacity - even when the heavens are opening and we are up to our waists in flood water.