Mayor Keith Sullivan is fighting the new Oberon dam allocations on a different front, taking Oberon’s concerns to the NSW Minister for Water Phil Costa in an effort to put a stop to the recent announcement that Delta Electricity can continue to draw on Oberon Dam, even after the dam drops below five per cent.

Cr Sullivan is calling on the Minister to make a decision to halt the new allocations and to undertake a proper investigation into the the issue, allowing a new management plan to be devised to protect the dam and allow it to recover.

Cr Sullivan said that currently Delta Electricity was entitled to nine megalitres a day from the dam, in comparison to around 11 megalitres which Oberon, including the timber complex, uses in an entire week.

Cr Sullivan said that the new arrangement means that, with no run off into the dam, Delta Electricity will now have 59 more days of water until the dam hits five per cent capacity. This amount of water would supply the town of Oberon for nearly an entire year.

“It’s a pretty big gamble,” he said.

Cr Sullivan said Oberon was not suggesting that any community owns the water, but what has enraged the Oberon community is that Delta Electricity has not been open about its water usage.

He said that if Delta is capable of running on 40 per cent of its allocation now, he does not understand why they have not been doing it all along and preserving Oberon’s water.

“They don’t appear to be being honest,” he said.

Delta Electricity has hit back this week, saying they have made substantial contribution to retaining water, including taking less than their entitlement from the dam, and also taking 75 per cent of their entitlement from the Duckmaloi River.

“Recognising the pressures on Oberon Dam, in June 2009, State Water arranged to increase extractions from the Duckmaloi River,” Stephen Saladine, general manager production, said.

“This has meant that in the July-September 2009 quarter Delta took around 15 megalitres a week from Oberon Dam, that is, around 25 per cent of the entitlement.”