TWO notices of motion have been submitted to Wednesday's meeting of Bathurst Regional Council, aimed at acknowledging water and climate emergencies.
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Councillors John Fry and Monica Morse have submitted two separate motions.
For Cr Fry, he has requested that council resolve to "declare the Bathurst Local Government Area to be in a state of water emergency for the next 12 months".
He also wants council to continue to prioritise work on water management projects on behalf of all groups, including the city and villages residents, irrigators, farmers, manufacturing, sports, environmental, cultural and recreation users.
The idea of declaring Bathurst in a state of water emergency was raised by Cr Fry in October.
He told the Western Advocate that it could increase council's chance of receiving funding and make it easier to get the projects it has put forward completed.
"It could put us in a better position to get funding and it should get us fast-tracked approvals through the government agencies," Cr Fry said at the time.
Cr Morse's motion, however, requests for council to acknowledge that there is a climate emergency in Australia.
The exact wording of the motion is "That Bathurst Regional Council acknowledges that there is a climate emergency and that council should continue its focus on improving energy efficiency, reducing costs, implementing behind the meter solar and investigating other renewable energy opportunities".
On Tuesday, Cr Morse said she was looking to amend the wording of the motion, but essentially she wants to get the message to the community that council is working on projects to address the "very unusual circumstances" being experienced.
"We do acknowledge that there are difficulties at the moment this is what council is doing to address them," she said.
Councillors will have the opportunity to vote on these notices of motion on Wednesday evening.
