![The cost to the state and water users of the desalination plant is huge.](/web/20160812145723im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/3/9/9/a/image.related.landscape.460x307.gqaxzg.png/1469352544058.jpg)
Mediocre ministers risk Melbourne's strengths
This is a tale of two cities – Melbourne and Sydney – and their policies concerning urban water supplies and the delivery of containerised cargo from the ports in each city to and from the outer suburbs where factories and warehouses are now mainly located.