The Bathurst local government area had the third highest number of water quality complaints in the state during 2012-2013, according to a statewide report card.
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The Performance Monitoring Report for NSW water utilities for 2012-13 provides an overview of the current status as well as future water supply and sewerage needs.
The report released this week showed that Bathurst Regional Council received around 37 complaints per 1000 head of population. This figure was topped only by Lithgow and Central Darling.
Lithgow Council received 44 complaints per 1000 people.
At the other end of the spectrum Orange City Council received two complaints per 1000 head of population and Dubbo received just one complaint in 1000.
When it came to sewerage odour complaints, however, Bathurst topped the state with no complaints whatsoever.
In fact, overall Bathurst fared quite well in the report compared to other centres.
As far as water supply is concerned Bathurst provided just under 300KL of water per residential property in 2012-13.
The report indicated that Bathurst is one of 45 regional utilities that provide bulk storage dams for their water supply and as such incur significant operating costs.
This typically results in higher residential bills and operating cost per property.
The operating cost of supplying water to the people of Bathurst was calculated at just over $500 per property. The cost of providing sewerage, just under that.
The typical residential bill for water supply and sewerage across the state ranged from $655 to $2136.
In this respect Bathurst was cheaper than many other councils coming in at around $1000 per assessment.
Lithgow charged each residential property around $1600, and Dubbo around $1500. Residential bills in Orange were a little less than Bathurst though, at around $900.
Primary Industries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson said the publication of the report enables each utility to monitor and improve its performance through benchmarking against similar utilities.
She added that it also highlights the overall statewide performance of the NSW regional local water utilities and compares that with interstate utilities.
“The report shows the NSW local water utilities continue to lead the way in providing affordable services for regional NSW,” Ms Hodgkinson said.
“The water supply median typical residential bill is now similar to country Victoria and the national median and lower than all the other Australian states and capital city utilities, except for Melbourne.”