Water security discussions

The State has previously pledged $2million for Council to investigate medium to long term solutions including storm water harvesting. In addition, Council is already well advanced in looking for potential groundwater sources to augment the Bathurst water supply as well as studies into the use of water from Winburndale to supplement the town supply.

Council has also recently received $2.25million from the Safe and Secure Water Program that is for the strengthening of Winburndale Dam wall, with construction work already commenced.

Council has also proposed a short-term solution to the State Government to purchase a water allocation from the Oberon Dam and Fish River Scheme to provide an additional water source for the town supply over this summer to help preserve the Chifley Dam supply for as long as possible.

Mayor Cr Bobby Bourke said council has today received advice that this water purchase will not be supported by the State Government as the water from Oberon Dam and the Fish River scheme is unlikely to have a supply surplus that could be made available to Bathurst.

“Council has been advised that this water wouldbe required to meet the critical supply needs for other customers including the Blue Mountains.”

“The Fish River Scheme option was just one of Council’s suite of water security options and while it would have given Council access to additional water for this summer, our precautionary approach with the early introduction of water restrictions has helped keep Chifley Dam at more than 46% capacity going into the warmer weather,” Cr Bourke said.

“Extreme water restrictions, which start on 14 October 2019 will also assist in reducing average daily consumption and preserving what water is available in Chifley for as long as possible.

“This gives Council time to continue progressing our medium-term plans to design and build a storm water harvesting system and a pipeline from Winburndale Dam.

“Council is working closely with local MP Paul Tooleon these issues and he has assisted with securing another meeting with the Minister for Water Melinda Pavey later this month to continue our discussions with the State Government regarding water security.

To date Council has commissioned a range of studies/consultancies as part of its water security projects, funded from the $2million grant received from the State Government. These include: