Of the many great challenges we face, climate change and drought are certainly two of the biggest.
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They're also closely linked, as the Climate Council warned last year in a report that found climate change was likely to result in severe droughts becoming more frequent, increasing the risk of water shortages.
The ACT, according to leading water researcher Professor Quentin Grafton, has made good decisions and avoided the "water emergency" many other parts of Australia currently face.
But when we make good decisions, we must not rest on our laurels and assume they'll get us out of trouble forever.
Professor Grafton sums this up well when he says: "We've traditionally in Australia, not just in the ACT, adopted water supply approaches and then, when a crisis hits, like a middle of a drought, then we tend to put in and impose water restrictions."
The professor's call for the introduction of a dynamic pricing model that would result in consumers paying more for water when dam levels are low, and less when the supply is full, makes sense.
As he explains, it's a way of addressing the challenges we're likely to face, but also one that would result in consumers' water bills being lower in the long term.
The ACT government has been expressing interest in dynamic water pricing for years. In 2012, Treasurer Andrew Barr argued for greater flexibility in water pricing, conceding that "setting prices over a five-year period makes it tricky to respond to drought or record-breaking rain".
More recently, the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission, which sets water prices in the ACT, found it would be "reasonable" to increase usage charges in times of drought, but it has not yet introduced any mechanisms to make this possible.
It is a tough ask to convince people that they need to pay more for something, no matter what it is. But responding to the greatest challenges of a period in time requires strong and visionary leadership that some people won't like.
In this case, though, people across Australia are demonstrating their desire for more to be done to address climate change, with the Extinction Rebellion protests of recent weeks a highly visible example.
Icon Water has already flagged the possibility of water restrictions being introduced if extremely dry conditions continue for another year.
The ACT government should heed Professor Grafton's call for a review of the territory's water system and ensure there are a variety of options on the table to deal with the issue.
Waiting for the peak of the crisis is not the answer. Proactive action is.
