Upper Hunter Shire Council has begun carting four truckloads of water each day from Scone to Murrurundi, where the dam supplying the town’s supply has dropped too low to use.
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The council is pumping about 150,000 litres a day from emergency bores, but extra water is needed to cover the 80,000 litre shortfall in daily water consumption. Carting from Scone began last Friday.
Mayor Wayne Bedggood told the Newcastle Herald on Thursday that four truckloads of water were being carted to Murrurundi each day, but that could grow to 10 truckloads in the worst case scenario.
Read more: Drought hits town as dam at five per cent
Cr Bedggood said the shire’s preference was to continue managing the situation itself, though it had received “comforting and much appreciated” offers of help from water utilities and other councils.
“We believe that we can cope with the situation internally using council suppliers and local contractors where necessary,” he said.
“We still have two bores supplying water to our Litree filtration unit which supplements over 50 per cent of the daily usage in Murrurundi.
“Unfortunately, without substantial rain carting water from Scone to Murrurundi was inevitable.”
The town has been subject to level six water restrictions – the final stage before emergency measures are put in place – since July.
