Mayor Keith Sullivan has told council he has been informed that the Fish River Water Supply management plan should have changes made within weeks, but this has not stopped the other councillors seeking alternative solutions to the water shortage.
Councillors agreed on Tuesday night to accept Central NSW Councils’ (CENTROC) support and advocacy in achieving a number of goals to address the water problem, including reviewing the management plan of the Fish River Supply.
Council will also be asking CENTROC to include in its drought management strategy an application for emergency water to be piped from Ben Chifley Dam to Oberon, which will initially be applied for from the Federal Government and is estimated to cost about $40-50 million.
This application was debated at length at the meeting, with Cr Sullivan claiming that it is counter-productive to be applying for funding from the Federal Government when the State Government is currently dealing with the issue.
Cr Sullivan implored councillors to include in their request to CENTROC that the funding would be required only if changes are not made to the management plan of the Fish River Supply.
The decision was made that CENTROC be requested to include Oberon as a high priority in the application for water security funding, with Cr Sullivan voting against the motion.
Director of engineering Leigh Robins said that the plans to pipe water from Bathurst to Oberon are very preliminary.
“But it does give you an alternative,” he said.
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