Ex-Sydneysider STUART PEARSON looks at Bathurst and its future from the perspective of a new resident.
THE drought may be fading from our memories and Chifley Dam may be full, but the circumstances that caused Bathurst's first water crisis in a hundred years have not gone away.
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What will we do to avoid the next water emergency?
In the mid-1970s, the federal Labor government came up with grand schemes to create growth centres in regional Australia.
The first location chosen was the twin cities of Albury and Wodonga. The second was to be a new city equidistant between Blayney, Orange and Bathurst - approximately where Vittoria exists today.
At the time, the total population of the three towns numbered just 49,000.
The growth projections in the report stipulated that by the year 2000, the total population would explode to 250,000 - a huge leap in one generation, exceeding the growth rates of almost every other city in Australia.
Leaving aside the fanciful and ultimately undeliverable undertaking of creating a brand new city in the bush with few resources and little political resolve, the preliminary research for this new city did address one crucial need - water security.
The NSW Public Works Department was tasked with providing a solution to satisfy the water requirements for a quarter of a million people, as well as future manufacturing and agricultural enterprises.(NSW Dept of Public Works Bathurst-Orange Growth Area Water Supply Report PWD/76012, February 1977.)
The report recommended the following three measures could be implemented immediately (please note when action was eventually taken):
- Raising the wall of Chifley Dam (achieved 2003).
- Transferring water from Chifley Dam to Bathurst directly via underground pipe (investigations continuing in 2020).
- Replace leaking wooden stove pipe bringing water from Winburndale Dam to Bathurst (work commenced in 2020).
However, the report went on to say that even with the implementation of the above recommendations, there would still not be enough water to satisfy the needs of 250,000 people.
The report concluded that the best long-term solution lay in building a new dam somewhere in the upper reaches of the Macquarie catchment area.
OTHER RECENT A FRESH PAIR OF EYES COLUMNS:
In the 1960s and 70s, dam-building was the preferred option for large-scale water security. It was a period in which Warragamba Dam was commissioned in Sydney; the Ord River project commenced in Western Australia; Burrendong Dam opened; and the mighty Snowy Mountains Scheme reached the peak of its construction.
Thirty potential sites were identified in the report, which, after further research, were reduced to six. The six options were investigated more thoroughly, and one site emerged as the clear preferred option - damming the Fish River at Evans Crown (Tarana gorge).
It offered twice the storage of Chifley Dam's current capacity, was less costly to construct than equivalent dams elsewhere and could easily satisfy water requirements westwards from the dam to Bathurst and beyond.
In short, it was a perfect solution for drought proofing much of the eastern half of the Central West.
That was then. This is now and times have changed. Tarana gorge and Evans Crown are now acknowledged as sensitive sites to the Wiradyuri.
Graziers downstream have become used to taking water from the unregulated Fish River.
Citizens are not as accepting of dam construction than they were a generation ago and prefer less dramatic solutions, such as ground water harvesting and recycling.
Finally, the location is within Oberon Council's area and the good folk of Oberon are naturally touchy about Bathurst wanting to take their water.
But if Bathurst wants a long-term solution to meet the needs of increasing demand, then something fundamental must change, otherwise severe water restrictions or worse will become permanent, harsh and start affecting the health of animals, plants and humans.
First, we must get used to using less water and recycling what we can.
Then we must store as much ground water as possible in wetlands, rainwater tanks and ponds without negatively impacting the environment.
But in the end, this will still not be enough.
For a genuine, long-lasting solution, we will have no choice but to build a large dam.
This new dam must store sufficient water to service the needs of a population that will grow from 45,000 currently to at least 65,000 over the next 50 years.
(My thanks to Peter Winter, U3A, for helping me locate this report.)
