Bathurst Regional Council has defended its decision to water street trees in the city following significant rainfall last week.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Since the introduction of water restrictions, residents have been keeping a close eye on council's water use, expecting to see it conserving water as well.
After significant rain fell in Bathurst last week, a resident was surprised and frustrated to see that council was still watering street trees the following day.
Council's manager of recreation, Mark Kimbel, has explained that the rain wasn't enough to warrant suspending its watering schedule.
"Council suspends watering following significant rain events, when sufficient quantities of rain has soaked into the ground. However, to date the soil moisture in many areas of Bathurst is not sufficient to warrant cancellation of street tree watering," he said.
"Even from the 40mm of rain that covered most of Bathurst last week, follow up rain has not occurred and ground moisture levels are again very dry."
To ensure that the city's streetscape plantings are given the best possible opportunity to establish, council undertakes a watering program for trees planted within the last five years.
Council's process of watering is manually, utilising a water truck.
As the street trees serve a number of purposes, council is committed to protecting these assets for as long as possible.
"Council has deemed trees to be an important community asset, providing significant benefit to the urban environment, with its streetscapes providing great value to Bathurst's identity and its heritage," Mr Kimbel said.
"As with its high profile parks and sporting facilities, council has resolved, under current water restrictions, to continue watering young street trees within Bathurst."
Although still watering, council has introduced a number of water saving measures, including implementing reduced water cycles, installing telemetry irrigation to major parks and sporting fields and watering at times that minimise evaporation and wind drift.
