It absolutely blows my mind how these things can be so complicated. There's a pipe and a meter. The meter is read n times a year. Invoice. Done.

I can see how asset management can be complicated for a utility, but what exactly is keeping Sidney Water from using an off-the-shelf product for friggin' CRM?

If you can sign off $55 million you must be a very powerful person. Anyone can sign off buying a software box.

Same reason why in Japan there are bridges that link 2 places no one needs to go to.

Same thing in Scotland, with the Edinburgh Parliament building. Started out as costing £40m, ended up costing more than £400m.

In this case, the architect died before it was finished. Noone to sue.

I love this part (from your Sidney/Water CRM link):

"Once implemented, the project, which also has a second phase, bringing expenditure up to $68.9 million, is expected to reduce operating costs by $1.9 million a year."

So they should recoup their costs in about 35 years. Priceless (well, not really).