[Wavytone]

Unfortunately journalists aren't good at basic maths nor economics.

Consider instead the annual per capita cost - 4 million people over 5 years ... $25 a year.

OTOH the next time we have a prolonged drought consider the screams if it were to reach the state Golburn did last time in the early 2000's - no showers, no baths, no laundry - water to be used for essential consumption only.

I suggest most would happily forgo a trip to MacDonalds once a year if that's the price of a secure water supply.

Even if a desal plant was used to provide water to grow fruit & veg it still makes economic sense, although the environmental aspects might not be so satisfactory.

I'm surprised that aren't positively foaming at the mouth at Sydney trains spending a much bigger number - $10B - on the Waratah train fleet - whilst conveniently forgetting they move a million passengers twice every day. That's more than 20 BILLION passenger journeys in the life of the fleet, at a cost of about $2 a trip. Now consider the rather unpleasant alternative of adding a million cars on the roads and the real cost of commuting by car.