BATHURST Regional Council is doing everything it can to prevent the city falling into critical territory this summer and beyond.
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At a December council meeting, councillor John Fry raised his concerns that the Chifley Dam level could potentially fall to as low as 15 per cent by the end of March.
He based this on how quickly the dam dropped over October and November, and the climate outlooks that have indicated a dry summer across much of Australia.
His fears were somewhat allayed by the director of Engineering Services, Darren Sturgiss, who is slightly more optimistic about the next few months.
"Our modelling indicates that we would be likely to be at 22 per cent, with no inflow, some time in mid 2020," he said.
It is expected that the amount of water being drawn from the dam will be significantly less than previous summers, due to the 80 per cent reduction in the water allocation for irrigators.
"We anticipate that the draw-down should be less, but it's very difficult to say at this stage and we're monitoring it," Mr Sturgiss said.
Council hopes to avoid the introduction of the critical water restrictions through the implementation of short-term water security projects.
These include stormwater harvesting and an upgrade of the Winburndale pipeline, which council has received $10 million from the NSW Government to start those projects.
General manager, David Sherley, said council is commissioning the appropriate design studies for these projects and is working with the Public Works Authority to look at appointing companies and contractors to undertake the works.
These are being done as a matter of urgency so construction can begin and these projects be completed quickly.
"The intention at this time is to have them completed by the middle of next year, subject to compliance with various legislative obligations," Mr Sherley said.
Stormwater harvesting and the pipeline may be enough to prevent Bathurst from going to level five (critical) water restrictions, which would be triggered when the dam level drops to 15 per cent.
"All our efforts are focusing on keeping us at no worse than level four [extreme restrictions]," Mr Sherley said.
"These two projects will go a long way to assist us in going to no worse than level four."
In the mean time, residents are urged to follow the requirements set out under extreme water restrictions.
A full list of the restrictions is available on council's website.
To aid with enforcement, people are encouraged to report those doing the wrong thing to council.
