The desalination plant is gone! All that’s left is a bill for $120
million for one of the more Ludwig of Bavaria moments of the imperial phase of Bob Carr’s premiership.

But is
the discovery of aquifers a real solution to Sydney’s water woes? And will they have
problems of their own?

The Latrobe
aquifer in Victoria has been milked for years. Bass Strait oil rigs pump massive amounts
into the field to increase pressure. That and other industrial and domestic
demands have not only depleted the water supply but an entirely respectable school
of science fears a good chunk of the coast will fall into the Tasman Sea when all the water below it has
gone.

Morris
Iemma knows – or should know – just how embarrassing the small matter of the
Lane Cove Tunnel was.