Experts partner with Central Tablelands Water

“One of the big lessons from the most recent drought is the water sector must collaborate more closely to build expertise and provide better access to niche skills,” WaterNSW Executive Manager Strategy and Performance, Fiona Smith, said.

“Some of those niche but critically important functions include catchment management and better ways to monitor and reduce risks at the source of water used in local town water supplies.

“WaterNSW is a national leader in the water sector, operating most of the large dams in NSW and protecting the health of the drinking water catchment that supplies the more than 5 million people of Greater Sydney.

“This is why our experts are well placed to help identify risks and fast track improvements to source water quality under the NSW Government’s Town Water Risk Reduction Program (TWRRP) which is an initiative of the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW).”

Lake Rowlands supplies drinking water to 14 towns and villages across Blayney, Cabonne, Weddin and Cowra local government areas. Central Tablelands Water also has the capability of providing drinking water to Orange City Council for emergency purposes via a bi-directional pipeline.

“We’re delighted to have our team on the ground working alongside Central Tablelands Water on opportunities to enhance the management of source water quality to ultimately reduce risk to drinking water supplies for local communities,” Fiona said.

The general manager of Central Tablelands Water, Gavin Rhodes said: "This is a great opportunity for our organisation to work in close collaboration with WaterNSW and have direct access to their catchment management expertise. As Lake Rowlands is our main water source, it is vital that we continue to protect the catchment and mitigate risks to water quality.

"I would also like to thank the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water for funding this important work under the Town Water Risk Reduction Program," Gavin said.

Source water quality is a critical part of the multi-barrier approach to address risks to water quality throughout the whole of the water supply chain, from the raw water source in the catchment, water storages and transfer systems through to treatment plants and delivery systems to customers’ taps.

“The multi-barrier approach recognises that while each individual barrier may not be able to completely remove or prevent contamination all of the time, they collectively provide greater assurance that the water supply will be safe,” Fiona said.

The TWRRP brings the strengths of major entities in the water sector, like WaterNSW, to local councils, to provide extra support to help improve water security, quality and reliability by enabling them to tap into the skills and knowledge that will best assist them.

WaterNSW has received NSW Government funding under the TWRRP to work with regional local water utilities (LWUs) on dam safety risk assessments and to help improve the monitoring of raw water quality. Under the program, DCCEEW provides ongoing support and expertise, free of charge to LWUs, to improve water treatment including providing training to water operators and funding to LWUs to carry out upgrades to plants.