By MATT NICHOLLS
ARMIDALE will come to the rescue for Walcha as the small Northern Tablelands town fast runs out of water.
If there is no rain in the next six weeks, Walcha will run out of water.
The town has been on level three water restrictions for a number of weeks, but the hot weather has quickly diminished the water supplies.
“We were managing at level three but there’s been an enormous amount of evaporation occurring up here,” Walcha Mayor Janelle Archdale said.
“I know our residents are trying really hard but the water usage has been higher than we would like.”
While an agreement between the Walcha and Armidale Dumaresq councils has yet to be signed off on, it seems a formality that water will be trucked south to help the neighbouring municipality.
Cr Archdale said she would speak to Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall and Member for New England Barnaby Joyce for financial support.
“We haven’t budgeted for for this and it would be expensive to truck the water in,” she said.
In the meantime, Walcha residents are doing all they can to save water.
“I know that residents literally are putting buckets in the shower to water gardens and they’re trying really hard with the measures that are in place and it’s going to be very hard to restrict it more than we are at the moment,” Cr Archdale said.
Last week, Guyra Shire Council introduced light water restrictions, limiting residents’ use of fixed hoses to a two-hour period from 6pm to 8pm.
“This restriction is necessary due to the lack of any inflow into the town water supply dams,” a council spokesman said.
“While there have been some isolated showers of rain in the region, there is still no water run-off in the catchment area.
“Council appreciates the co-operation of residents to abide by the restriction and conserve water.”
Uralla and Bundarra residents are probably just two weeks away from water restrictions.
Uralla Shire Council general manager Tom O’Connor said if rain didn’t fall in the next fortnight the restrictions would be put in place.
While Armidale has a surplus of water at Malpas Dam, the council has noticed a large increase in usage.
Consumption of water for January was 50 per cent higher than the average.
Armidale Dumaresq Council’s manager of water services Luke Finnegan said the persistent dry and hot weather had caused the unusually high consumption.
“Water consumption in January was on average about 14 million litres per day,” he said.
“Normally we average around nine million litres per day.”
Currently Malpas Dam is at 84 per cent capacity, however river flow into the dam stopped before Christmas.
“We are now living off what’s in storage, so we are encouraging residents and businesses to use water wisely,” Mr Finnegan said.
