THERE is no argument that we are either in, or heading to, the grips of a water crisis. Most of the solutions have been large in scale, perhaps to match the severity of the situation we face.
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But bureaucracy is often a slow-moving beast - and the bigger the weight to bear, the slower it moves.
Rather than putting forward these massive "home run" developments, that cost in the tens and hundreds of millions, perhaps we should be looking to hedge our bets with multiple smaller proposals.
There is a plethora of smaller dams across the region. Upgrading half a dozen of them could potentially provide the same level of water security as one big expansion.
And these smaller upgrades may slide through the belly of the bureaucratic beast quicker, a more palatable and digestible meal than a $100-million feast.
This looks to be exactly what Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall is doing by pitching an expansion of Malpas Dam, which sits between Armidale and Guyra.
The dam's 13 gigalitres (GL) pales in comparison to Chaffey's 100GL, Keepit's 435GL or Copeton's 1300GL.
But by raising its wall by just 10 metres, the capacity of Malpas would double, providing the surrounding region with a significantly improved level of water security.
The NSW government has committed $1.5 billion to regional water infrastructure projects, so there is plenty of money up for grabs. But we need our local representatives to get on the front foot and lobby for the money to come here.
Ironically, Dungowan Dam is smaller than Malpas Dam and its proposed upgrade would still leave it smaller than an expanded Malpas.
But, as the NSW government has made it clear there are no plans to push ahead with Dungowan due to the $440 million price tag (which many find difficult to believe), we should start looking at other projects.
With a dry winter predicted, and cities and towns across the region on water restrictions, it's a bleak outlook. A new dam expansion, regardless of how small, will remind people that one day it will rain again - and when it does, we need to be ready.