BATHURST Regional Council has been urged to seek government funding to help it restock the Turon River with thousands of fish, water rats, tortoises and platypuses that died when it ran dry earlier this year.
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Land owners living on the river say it stopped flowing in April, killing all signs of life.
A small trickle has returned now to the river but one of those land owners, retired barrister Stephen Wilson, says it is too late to save the animals.
Mr Wilson used public question time at council’s monthly meeting on Wednesday night to highlight the plight of the river and to call for help to ensure the loss of flow does not happen again.
Residents believe mine operators were given permission to cap aquifers that feed the river, causing it to run dry, and suspect it was only the uncapping of aquifers that brought the flow back.
“Who killed the Turon River … who did it, why did they do it, when did they do it, how did they do it, where did they do it and what are the consequences?” Mr Wilson said.
“Well, we know the consequences, there are lots of them. The Turon Gates resort almost went broke, the township of Sofala was left to hang out to dry … and nearly all the businesses were forced to stop trading [but] what can be done so the consequences of this ecological disaster will never happen again?”
While making it clear council had played no part in the “disaster”, Mr Wilson said Central West councils should come together to oppose water being “allocated to a few and penalising many”.
“All life in the Turon is dead – platypuses, water rats, tortoises and fish,” he said.
“The river needs to be restocked and council can get a grant to do this.
“The effects of the drought have been greatly aggravated by the dreadful, legal allocation of water which has done shocking and irreversible damage to our river and its life, and especially damaging to Sofala.
“The time for intervention is now when new mining licences are being issued or old ones renewed.”
Mr Wilson said he had been told by a Bathurst council staffer that there was no monitoring or metering of water being taken from the river and said council should insist on it starting immediately.
He likened the battle to save the Turon River to the community campaign to stop a nuclear waste dump being established at Hill End, and asked council to again support its residents.