The Drought's the Government's Fault! (We Should Have Known!)

In yesterday's Sun Herald ...

One of the jokes in Sydney is that we get all these torrential downpours that flood basements and wash tonnes of rubbish into the harbour, and the next day we hear on the radio that dam levels haven't budged a jot.

Miranda Divine asked the question. It's a difficult one to answer, but I'll have a stab. Maybe it's raining in Sydney and not over the dam catchments?

"No!" says Miranda.

The answer is political. The drought has been a perfect opportunity for the Government to excuse its failure to invest in infrastructure by blaming external factors outside its control.

So Bob Carr's been telling the weather gods to hold the rain for political purposes! (Sound of hand slapping forehead.) We should have known!

Miranda drags up the old solution to Sydney's water shortage. We need another dam.

Call me simple, but if it's not raining enough to fill one dam, then there's not going to be enough water to fill an adjacent one at the same time. The problem is not a lack of storage, but increasingly long drought periods caused by changing weather patterns due to human induced climate change.

Building a new dam, which would be considerably lower than the existing Warragamba Dam, would require large pumps to get the water to consumers. Pumps = energy use = greenhouse gas = climate change = longer drought periods = (in Miranda's view) more water storage = another dam = .... you get the picture.

The answer to Sydney's water shortage is more efficient use of the resource through measures such as realistic pricing, use of urban runoff, and recycling.

And a final thought; I wonder if Miranda would give up the idea of a dam if some traditional owners said it was against their beliefs to interfere with the river?