Our say | Stop water waste, then worry about the wall

Bathurst is placed much better than most regional centres when it comes to a secure water supply and that has been a significant factor in the city’s growth over the past decade or so.

The decision of a past council to raise the wall at Ben Chifley Dam by 5.4 metres and almost double its capacity has virtually drought-proofed the main part of the region, but for how long?

A combination of a growing population and (forecast) hotter, drier weather is a perfect storm for water usage, and the we should be looking to take action sooner rather than later.

Two councillors – Warren Aubin and The Greens’ John Fry – this week told the Western Advocate they believed Bathurst Regional Council should again look at raising the Ben Chifley Dam wall to further increase the capacity.

It would be a major infrastructure project for the council to take on and would no doubt require state and federal government money to make it happen.

And before any of that happened there would be a need for forensic modelling to determine if we could ever expect a bigger dam to be filled. If not, raising the wall might prove to be a white elephant.

But there is a simple measure council could put in place tomorrow to help secure our water – introduce restrictions.

We are not advocating strict restrictions but, rather, easy measures that we should already be following.

Surely the whole community could live with a on the washing down of driveways and limiting the use of sprinklers during the hottest part of the day. As it stands, these restrictions would not come into effect until the dam level fell to 37 per cent.

This should simply be a debate about simply recognising that water is a valuable community resource and that placing the most minor restrictions on its waste is a sensible acknowledgment of its worth.

And such restrictions would do no harm to Bathurst’s reputation as a city with an enviably secure water supply, and have no impact on the city’s continued growth.

But they might have an impact on the water level at Ben Chifley Dam, and put off the need to raise the wall for a few more years yet.