Speaking informally and in relation to no actual matter listed for discussion at Tuesday night’s May council meeting, Cr Dawson voiced his concern about the inability of rainfall to help the level in the dam, which is currently dropping steadily.

“In the areas of the catchment that are covered in pine trees, the needles form a bed on the ground and the rainfall does not even penetrate and get to the ground,” he said.

“In the harvested area on the other hand, the pines are deep-rooted to about a metre-and-a-half so the water simply just goes straight down into the ground.

“Until that situation is rectified and we get some grassland in the catchment, I see a very bleak future for Oberon Dam.”

Council director of engineering put the seriousness of the current situation into perspective in terms of figures, saying that the amount of rainfall is not correlating with the level of the water reserve.

“Last year we had over 900mm of rain yet the dam fell by four per cent, so there is definitely a problem there,” he said.

Oberon Dam is currently hovering between 16 and 17 per cent, and with no solid rainfall for months, is expected to drop further in the coming weeks.