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Hi Alex,
Today Warragamba Dam's level is at 91.9%. But consider that
only ten years ago, in 2007, it reached a record low of 32.5%.
Through the early and mid 2000's it remained low and water restrictions
were in place. Fast forward to more recent times and levels have
managed be high enough to go over the spillway.
So statistically that is a very large variability in levels in an historically very
short period of time.
The question perhaps is not whether it will ever run low again - it will -
but what price one is prepared to pay for ensuring that a city of 5+ million
people never runs out of water.
In cities where there is pandemonium if the electricity goes off for 30
minutes, imagine a scenario where a city the size of Sydney were without
sufficient water for days, weeks or months?
And Sydney keeps growing at an alarming rate.
In 2001 the population of Sydney was around 4.1 million and today it is
well over 5 million.
Insurance is always a double-edged sword. If we get lucky and
we look backwards and decided we didn't need it, we see it as
an opportunity cost.
But just like how we pay firemen to be on standby 24/7 in fire
stations around the country, we are grateful for the day they come
when it is our house which is the one on fire.
In an ideal world, you would be able to predict the future and only
build a new firestation or water supply the day before you needed it.
Alas our crystal ball is not that accurate.
An alternative emergency standby water supply for Sydney also
makes a lot of sense in the current security environment. Something
I would prefer not to discuss here but you know what I mean.
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