But a decade on, Hunter Water is again exploring the possibility of a new dam, and dozens of property owners are up in arms at two investigation areas - one at Upper Chichester and the other near the Karuah River at Limeburners Creek.

At Chichester Road on Thursday, a group of affected residents (properly socially distanced) spoke with the Newcastle Herald about their anger at the way Hunter Water was conducting its investigations into the possible new dam.

The two investigation areas were publicly revealed in February, after Hunter Water conducted a review of its 2014 Lower Hunter Water Plan.

This 79-page plan looked at water sharing between regions, water efficiency, demand management, water recycling, stormwater harvesting and desalination, but made no mention of new dams, as a Hunter Water spokesperson confirmed.

Not all of the Chichester residents are opposed to the project - a few said yesterday they would be happy to be bought out.

But they are all adamant that Hunter Water will not be allowed to split the community into "fors and againsts", as Sally Skuse, secretary of the recently formed Save Chichester Valley Group, put it.

Nor will they allow Chichester to be played off against Limeburners Creek.

"We're all friends here," another Chichester group member, Allan Rumbel, said.

They say more than 30 farmers and property owners along Chichester Road are inside the "investigation area" north of the existing Chichester Dam, with a similar number in the same boat at Limeburners Creek, about 60 kilometres to the south, near Clarence Town.

At Limeburners Creek, the Ironstone Community Action Group (ICAG) is leading opposition to both dams, driven by ICAG secretary Amanda Albury, an experienced campaigner against the Stratford and Duralie coalmines to her north, and Hilton Grugeon's hard-rock Hunter Quarries to the south.

In a statement to the Herald yesterday, Hunter Water said it was taking an "open, transparent and collaborative" approach and was "taking on board feedback about all of the options we are considering".

But Ms Albury said Hunter Water had been anything but transparent, saying she and other residents only found out about the dam investigations when they read it in the Herald.

"Also as well as putting everyone impacted under a black cloud, they are being extremely rude and uncaring, to put people under this amount of due-stress with a time-bomb waiting to explode over them if either dam proceeds," Ms Albury said.

While many of the Chichester group are opposed to a new dam on environmental grounds, they say they lose out either way because their properties have no real future until Hunter Water makes its mind up either way.

In an update to residents sent last month, Hunter Water stressed it was at "the investigation stage".

"No decisions have been made about whether a dam will be proposed as part of the revised Lower Hunter Water Security Plan and we do not have a preferred potential site," the newsletter says.

"In line with this, at this stage there is no intention or need to acquire any land.

"Should a decision be made to proceed with a dam in future, acquisition would occur closer to when infrastructure is to be built. This could be many years into the future, or may not occur at all.

"If a dam is proposed as part of the revised plan, any resulting proposal would be subject to standard development and planning approval processes."

Chichester's John Lee, who said he was at the stage of life where he would sell his property, said Hunter Water was telling residents it could be years before it made up its mind.

"How can you plan for the future if you don't know what they're going to do?" Mr Lee said.

He said properties inside the investigation areas were now impossible to sell and nobody would logically invest in improving their farms in the meantime because of the threat of losing them.

Hunter Water told the Herald it wanted to work with the community about the best way to achieve water security for the region.

"We are involving them in the process rather than surprising them with a decision."

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