VICTORIA was in the grip of a devastating drought when the former Labor government made the decision to build the north-south pipeline.
The $750 million pipe would carry water from the Goulburn irrigation areas to thirsty Melbourne, where storages were running perilously low.
The decision was controversial, with Goulburn residents accusing Melbourne of stealing its water.
To sweeten the deal, the government also committed to upgrading infrastructure in the area, providing more water for irrigators in the food bowl.
To partly fund it, Melbourne water users were slugged with high water bills, and subsidised the project to the tune of $300 million.
But in a rash decision designed to appease Nationals voters in the region, the Liberal-National Coalition led by Ted Baillieu pledged that if it were elected, it would turn the pipe off.
And so it sits, empty and unused, while billions of litres of water run away and flush out into the ocean.
The Sunday Herald Sun is today revealing that billions of litres of water - enough to fill Melbourne's storages to the brim - have been wasted in the past few weeks. The water has to be run out of the Goulburn system - which is already 90 per cent full - to protect the area against a flood. But instead of being piped to Melbourne and stored in the city's massive dams as insurance against the next big dry, it's been flushed out to sea. Wasted, down the drain.
The drought may be over for now, but there's no guarantee the wet conditions will continue.
Whether or not you agreed with Labor's decision to build the pipeline, circumstances have changed.
It's time to put common sense ahead of politics. Premier Baillieu should reverse his populist decision, and turn the pipe back on.
Like the pipe or loathe it, the fact is that the money's already been spent.
Leaving the pipe sitting empty is putting political convenience first and common sense last.
The voters have had their say on Labor, and Labor's water policies, and turfed it out of office at the 2010 election. Mr
Baillieu doesn't have to endorse Labor's decision to build the controversial pipeline, but he shouldn't throw good money after bad by letting billions of litres of precious water run away into the ocean
.