The long dry is sapping Melbourne’s dams and raising questions about the viability of the city’s water supply. … Since the network of dams was built several decades ago, Melbourne has never had less drinking water. The record low-water mark was broken in mid-April, when storages reached 28.3 per cent of capacity. With consumption outstripping inflows, a lower record has been set every few days since then, and yesterday the city’s storages were at 26.8 per cent. … Melbourne’s dams, such as Sugarloaf, now resemble bare canyons.

Running on empty: dams dry up 2005 image 2007 Sugarloaf Reservoir, 2007. pen.dca.mel Not catching anytthing at Melbourne's Sugarloaf Dam, September 2007. lax1981 2008 Sugarloaf Reservoir (at 19.8% capacity), Christmas Hills, Victoria, Australia, 23 March 2008. Kham Tran - www.khamtran.com 2009 Sugarloaf Reservoir, May 2009. Photo: Justin McManus