"Hugh" wasn't in a maturation chamber because, different writers. IMO, I think there's a sliding scale for different species, when they were assimilated, needs of that particular cluster of drones, but, different writers.
I'm glad that they rewrote McNeill's character as Tom Paris, Locarno was kinda a dick but who knows, maybe that coudla worked. The two characters do look alike (obviously), but if you listen, I don't know, to the actual dialogue, he's referred to as "Nick" or "Locarno." When Nick Tate showed up in TNG "Final Mission," I didn't think it was Alan Carter...
hattahs gotta hate - I don't think they were trying to say water itself was scarce in the Delta Quadrant, just on the surface of Kes's homeworld. Sure, I got a little squirmy over the idea that even the Kazon couldn't condense hydrogen and oxygen into H2O, but the real point was that they "weren't in Kansas anymore" and things like replicators might be non-standard. Cherry-picked example anyhows - there's plenty of good science in all Trek, and I'd stack Okuda/Sternbach/Bormanis against SG anytime, but you see what you want to see.
Here's the screencap of the torpedo inventory on 1701A in ST6. Four columns of 24 each, so, 96 on that page. Seems like a good number; about 85 to 90 cubic meters that we've established have to be someplace "safe" near the launchers.