MidCoast council tells residents, who are on level-four water restrictions, that water may be trucked in, if necessary

This article is more than 9 months old

This article is more than 9 months old

Residents in the New South Wales community of Gloucester have been told there is a risk the river that supplies their drinking water could run dry in the coming weeks – for the first time in recorded history.

Gloucester’s town water supply comes from the Barrington River, which flows from the typically fertile Barrington Tops national park.

The MidCoast council has advised residents, who are on level-four water restrictions, that arrangements are in place to truck in water if necessary. It says a $20,000-a-day cost figure quoted by the ABC is incorrect.



“The Barrington River has never ceased flowing in recorded history,” said Adrian Panuccio, the MidCoast council general manager.

“We’ve put arrangements in place just in case this occurs, and there is a possibility that this summer we may need to supply Gloucester from an alternate water source.



“If a situation develops that Gloucester does require emergency provision of water by truck, then it is obviously a more expensive exercise than the usual town supply, which is dependent on river flows from the Barrington River.”

He said water could be sourced from an aquifer in the coastal town of Tea Gardens. The New South Wales government will heavily subsidise transport costs.



“Right now, and leading into the Christmas season, we are urging all residents and visitors to the MidCoast to observe the level four severe restrictions in place for most of the region. Our daily water usage remains above the targets set for level four, and we need to ensure everyone is on board with water restrictions.”

Julie Lyford, a former mayor of Gloucester before the old shire was amalgamated, and the president of community group Groundswell Gloucester, told Guardian Australia the situation was remarkable.

“The lack of rainfall has been astounding,” she said. “Irrigators can’t irrigate. And now it’s finally reached the township where we do take water for granted.

“It’s pretty sad walking through the town and seeing the state of the river.

“We’ve been very economical with our water use for some time now. Above everything else, the one thing everyone is talking about is the climate change effects on rainfall and how we go forward from here.”

With a handful of communities facing Day Zero early in the new year, forecasts remain grim. It will likely be several more months at least before catchments in eastern Australia get any decent rainfall.

About 2,700 residents of the town of Uralla, near Armidale in NSW, are drinking bottled water after high levels of arsenic were found to have contaminated the water supply.

“At levels much higher than the levels found in Uralla’s drinking water, arsenic can cause acute gastrointestinal and neurological issues,” the local council said in a statement.

The Northern Daily Leader reported today that 6,000 megalitres – about six months’ of water supply for Tamworth or 17% of the dam’s storage capacity – had likely been lost in transmission.

“That is, water that is released from a dam storage and consumed by the natural environment during its journey along the river,” a Water NSW spokesperson told the paper.

In Sydney, where Warragamba Dam is still at 44.3% capacity, the greatest concern is not when it rains, but how it rains.

Bushfires in the NSW Blue Mountains continue to burn huge swathes of the dam’s catchment area, increasing the likely impact if storms wash large amounts of ash into the water supply.

Water NSW says it has contingency plans in place.