A 27 MILLIMETRE dump of rain across the Bathurst region on Sunday has pushed Ben Chifley Dam to capacity for the first time since last 2016.
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Water started flowing over the spillway early on Monday morning, just a little more than six months after the dam dropped to record low of just 28 per cent in February.
Mayor Bobby Bourke, who made the trip out to the dam at The Lagoon with Bathurst MP Paul Toole on Monday morning, said it was great sight for the whole region.
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"This is a great opportunity to be out here and see the dam at capacity, it's a long time since we've seen water going over the wall," Cr Bourke said.
"This is a great recreation dam; people want to get out and go fishing and skiing and the boats will be back for the first time in two-and-a-half years so this will bring a bit of life back to the dam."
Cr Bourke said the past three years of drought had changed the Bathurst region's relationship with water.
"I think we had probably been thinking that with the higher dam wall we didn't need to worry too much about our water security but when the dam got down to 28 per cent it just showed that it doesn't matter how high the wall is, if it doesn't rain then we can be in trouble," he said.
"But council now has a number of water security projects under way along with more work at Winburndale Dam so hopefully we don't see it drop that far again."
Mr Toole said it was great to see water flowing over the spillway but urged people to keep conserving water.
"To see the dam go from 28 per cent to 100 per cent is just welcome news right across the region," he said.
"It's been pretty tough for our communities and pretty tough for our farmers over the past four years so this is wonderful news, but it's also a reminder to all of us to ensure that we look after water as a precious resource.
"This drought has really taught people how to change the practices around their homes, how they need to do things differently and how they need to be waterwise and those are things we need to keep in place as we go forward."
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