With the worst drought in a century leaving Oberon Dam struggling to cope with demand, the local council believed they may have found a solution in the form of a second water storage facility.

Earlier this year Oberon Council’s director of engineering Leigh Robins outlined his vision to provide additional water supplies.

He compiled a report to the the February meeting of the council which stated the greatest opportunity to provide significant storage existed on the Duckmaloi River.

At the time Mr Robins noted that a dam in this vicinity could potentially store 20 gigalitres of water.

In comparison, Ben Chifley Dam at The Lagoon holds 30.8 gigalitres while Oberon Dam at its capacity holds 44 gigalitres.

However, with no environmental considerations addressed, Mr Robins said that if the proposition was to advance beyond a concept, substantial funds would be needed.

Well, it turns out the funding has proved to be the ultimate stumbling block.

“At the customer council meeting of Fish River Water Supply on April 15, it was resolved that State Water be requested to consider the allocation of funds in the forthcoming budget for investigation of the construction of a dam at Duckmaloi,” Mr Robins’ report stated.

“Support in principle has been received from Lithgow City Council.

“However, State Water has advised that no funds are available to pursue an investigations into the proposed Duckmaloi Dam.”

Mr Robins said yesterday the council wouldn’t be giving up on the proposal, although noting getting funds from the State Government was tough.

“We’re not giving up easily,” he said. “Council resolved at the meeting to write to the Minister directly to ask him to reconsider the decision,” he said.

“This has been done, so we’ve gone right to the top to push the issue.”