This is a potentially interesting paper, and has generated strong and insightful critiques from two reviewers. Please respond positively to both reviewers, but especially Reviewer #1 who has made very specific and pointed remarks. Addressing these will certainly improve the paper, including satisfying the reqirements of the special issue.

My own understanding of the paper is that it tracks the vulnerability of the current water supply infrastrucure system to the effects of projected changes to climate and also to changes in water demand. It does this through the use of several "predictive" models.

The paper also alludes to interesting socio-hydrologic perspectives of the co-evolution of human and water system dynamics in this basin, but in the end the paper only pays lip service to the associated coupled human-water system dynamics. This is also one of the main criticisms of Reviewer #1: in other words, it promises a lot but in the end it does not deliver on this promise.

Given the time frame of prediction used (to the end of the 21st century) and the rapid pace of climatic and demographic changes in this basin, (similar to the Murrumbidgee Basin in Australia) I believe socio-hydrology is particularly relevant, and the move towards a coupled socio-hydrologic model is completely appropriate. I am glad the authors have brought this to the attention of the global socio-hydrologic community.

While I understand that building a coupled socio-hydrology model is beyond the scope of this paper, the case for it can be made stronger, and the broad outlines of such a model can be brought out at the end of the paper (similar to Kandasamy et al. 2014 in the HESS special issue). The authors can reframe and restructure the paper in a way as to bring out the need for a coupled model, the inability of traditonal IWRM approaches to manage the system on such long timeframes, and how the present work contributes towards that effort.

All of this will require major revisions (possibly not much new analyses). I look forward to seeing a revised version of the manuscript, and I hope to push through the second round of reviews in a more expeditious way.

Two reviewers have again critically assessed the paper. They both do indicate that the paper has been improved through these revisions, and that now the paper does make a reasonable contribution to the special issue on socio-hydrology. However, they have raised some concerns about the adequacy of the paper, and have indicated to me that if these are satisfactorily addressed to my satisfaction, then the paper can proceed to publication in HESS. I ask the authors to expeditiously finalize their paper by these concerns FULLY so that I can make the final decision myself. Especially pay attention to the comments of Reviewer #1. Thank you for submitting this paper to the HESS-ESD special issue.

I have accepted the revised paper in its present form