The increased cost estimate for the Cotter Dam (''Stanhope shocked over that dam bill'', September 4, p1) and the political reaction to it come as no surprise given the history of the debacle of Canberra's water supply inadequacy.
The unforgivable delay in expanding storage and supply while boosting Canberra's growth beyond its water supply capacity was but the first fault, perpetuated over many years.
To then proclaim any cost estimate for a new dam without sound knowledge of the foundation conditions was, at best, misleading. Any first-year engineer should know the geological nature of a dam foundation can be the major determinant of eventual cost. If earlier estimates were based on inadequate knowledge of geological conditions, then they should have been known to be unreliable and likely to be significantly understated. It is simply not the case that well-managed modern engineering projects necessarily start with a low-cost estimate followed by a large out-turn increase. Engineering cost estimation and cost control can, if properly managed, be much better disciplined than this defeatist attitude suggests.
This apparent lack of engineering insight is now perpetuated by the apparent belief of both Actew and the ACT Government that the foundation problem will be fixed by 120,000 cubic metres of ''cement'' (sic).
If those with public accountability for this dam know so little that they cannot arrange reliable cost estimates, and then confuse cement with concrete, then there is little hope for a disciplined engineering outcome. Jon Stanhope cannot just wring his hands and pontificate he must act to ensure better governance to limit further risks to this crucial overdue territory project.
Mike Hutchinson, Reid
Drew Collins (Letters, September 5) was a bit conservative about teasing out conclusions from his historical cost information on Canberra's water supply options. If water from a new Cotter Dam was going to cost $3000 a megalitre in 2007, and Actew has revised dam costs up by 150percent, then it will now produce water at about $7500/ML.
Modest inflation aside, that's an astounding three-times the estimated cost in 2007 of piping water across to the Cotter catchment from the Tantangara Dam, ie, we ratepayers shell out an extra $200million-plus. Tantangara water would arrive via the two half empty dams we have on the Cotter River.
But Minister Andrew Barr jumped in to prevent water cost calculations being refined, publicised or debated. He's slapped on one of his anti-democratic call-in power gags.
Why might Stanhope Labor be so slyly attached to its gold-plated Cotter Dam, the third dam on a modest river?
Is its potential use as a dilution receptacle for recycled sewage really worth an extra couple of hundred million dollars?
Tom Waring, Ainslie
Actew's Mark Sullivan added $110million to his barely eight-month-old cost estimate for the new Cotter Dam. He says key alternatives damming the Naas Valley or drinking recycled sewage have been dismissed (''Bills up to cover Cotter blow-out'', September 3, p1). He says the Naas catchment is too unproductive.
But the Cotter River has two dams on it already. Those dams rarely fill. He dismisses recycling sewage on cost grounds. Why then is $100million of our money still being spent constructing a recycling demonstration plant near his Cotter Dam? Either we are yet to be told we will pay for an expensive pipeline to deliver expensive water to the Cotter catchment from Tantangara Dam, or there is to be a sudden, fait accompli change-of-heart on recycling sewage.
How else does the new Cotter Dam get water that hasn't already been captured upstream?
John West, Reid
Bill Heffernan (''NSW set to turn off the tap'', September 5, p1) grinds his teeth because there will be no water in the lower Lachlan.
Crispin Hull (''Economic figures give a false account of costs to our wellbeing'', Forum, September 5, p15) says that, because of record migration levels, our numbers are growing faster than the economy is recovering.
Letter writer Ed Highley, of Kambah, musing on the huge sums on dams and pipelines, asks where the water will be coming from, and why the ACT Government continues to promote population growth when there isn't enough water for those already here.
Three items from your Saturday edition, each showing how we're living beyond our means.
G. Jones, Torrens