David Goldney rightly blames Bathurst Regional Council as the major contributor for the local extinction of the platypus in the Winburndale Rivulet and its ecological collapse.

Ratepayers need to know the process used by council to make the decision to divert water from the Winburndale to the city during the drought of 1997 to 2020.

Those councillors seeking re-election must declare the role that they played in this environmental disaster.

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The CSIRO predicts up to 30 per cent less water flow into the Murray-Darling Basin over the next 30 years.

With Bathurst's population expanding, there will simply not be enough water supply when the next drought occurs.

Water is a very emotive issue. Countries such as Egypt and Ethiopia talk of going to war over access to the same water.

In February, the stakeholders along the Winburndale met with council, unsuccessfully, to attain an environmentally sustainable release of water from the Winburndale Dam into the rivulet.

These people were very upset that council had stopped water flow into the Winburndale without consultation.

The chairman, Norm Mann, congratulated the stakeholders on the civility and decorum they displayed during this meeting.

As the Winburndale had run dry, they had been deprived of water for stock and domestic use in contradiction to government regulations.

When the next drought arrives, meetings such as this will become more frequent and will become ugly, more so if council maintains its lack of transparency and unilateral decision making.