‘Day zero’ crisis looms
ALMOST a dozen towns across regional New South Wales and southern Queensland are confronting a crisis as they try desperately to avoid “day zero”.
The towns are at “high risk” of running out of drinking water as the ongoing drought continues to wreak havoc for tens of thousands of Australians living in dry communities.
Local Government NSW president Linda Scott said a number of regional cities and towns are preparing for a day zero that’s less than 12 months away, with some expected to face it within three to six months.
“And in some areas, it’s probably a matter of weeks,” Ms Scott said.
“This is very serious. Carting water in trucks for hundreds of kilometres on dirt roads is going to be the only way some councils can provide drinking water to locals.”
Tenterfield is at the epicentre of the dwindling water supply crisis, with the town’s dam at a precarious 32 per cent capacity and a single bore struggling to supplement the supply.
“We pump that bore for two days and then give it a spell for a few days, to let it replenish, and in those two days, it puts roughly a day’s use back into the dam,” Tenterfield Shire Council Mayor Peter Petty said.
“I’m no mathematician but to me that’s going out the back. It won’t last.
“Our concern is that if the bore sh**s itself, we’re buggered. It’ll be 200 days left of water and we don’t want that to happen.”
Stanthorpe could reach its day zero by Christmas, with nearby Warwick at risk of running dry in 17 months’ time.
“This is the worst drought we’ve ever had in our region and it’s really biting hard,” Southern Downs Regional Council Mayor Tracy Dobie said.
“We haven’t had rain since March 2017. In the past, it rains here in summer. That hasn’t been the case for a while now.
“The issue we’re facing is the dams and creeks are all dry and so the inflows into our urban water storages have ceased.”
Extreme water restrictions are in place across the communities, limiting daily usage to 120 litres per person. Council has also conducted a leak audit of its pipe system to ensure every precious drop is maintained.
In addition to Tenterfield, Stanthorpe and Warwick, other towns making preparations for their own day zero scenarios are Tamworth, Orange, Dubbo, Armidale, Narromine, Cobar and Nyngan.
“It’s different in each area,” Ms Scott said.
“I was visiting towns a few weeks ago that are soon going to need to transport water in trucks for hundreds of kilometres over dirt roads to reach drought-affected communities. In some areas, there’s already a need to help councils fund the carting of water.”
The logistics involved in transporting water in trucks are complex and the cost is substantial.
In Tenterfield, Mr Petty said calculations indicate the region would need 1400 B-double truck loads of water each month.
“If that happens, I’ll hang my head in shame. I will have failed the community,” he said.
Council is in discussions with the State Government to help fund a $3.2 million project to search for new bores, he said.
“We sit on top of the Great Dividing Range here so we haven’t got a water system we can pump out of. So, we’re looking for two or three bores to supplement the water supply. Last week, the testing people have found four places of interest,” Mr Petty said.
“It usually takes 12 months but we won’t be here in 12 months. We want to try to get it done quicker. We’ll get the test bores in and then we’ll find out how much is there, all that, it’s a long process.”
Ms Dobie said council could have to cart water from Warwick to Stanthorpe by the end of the year, which could cost as much as $1 million a month.
“We’ll take the water from storage in Warwick to keep Stanthorpe supplied. It means Warwick storages will be exhausted earlier. Once that happens, we’ll move to the use of production bores,” she said.
That’s one of several necessary measures to ensure locals never face a scenario where they turn on their taps and no water comes out.
“For Stanthorpe, day zero will occur sometime around Christmas,” she said.
“But I must qualify that. We can extend that out a bit by helping residents to use less water and that’s exactly what we’ll do. It’s about maintaining balance – an acceptable liveability standard combined with businesses, the minimum amount of water they can use.
“We won’t get to a point where you turn your tap on and no water comes on. We will not let that happen. We won’t be in a situation where we’re dropping bottled water at people’s front doors. We will continue to run an urban water supply.”
A spokesman for Orange City Council said the water outlook there was “much more complex” than other at-risk centres.
“Here, it takes into consideration factors like our storm-water harvesting system, our water pipeline (and) the reduced water use due to tighter water restrictions,” he said.
The worst-case scenario in Orange is hitting day zero in the next 12 to 18 months, giving the town a bit more breathing room than others battling the impacts of the drought.
Mr Petty said his region was typically “a safe area” when it comes to dry spells and water supply, but it’s been at least two years since the last decent rainfall.
As a result, the whole Northern Tablelands region is struggling, he said.
Glen Innes is dry but they’ve got a good water supply. Guyra is already carting potable water in while Armidale and Tamworth are in dire straits, Mr Petty said. Towns at risk of running out of water are implementing emergency management protocols to extend current supplies as long as possible.
Apart from that, the immediate hope is that it rains sooner rather than later.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the past several months had delivered below-average rainfall for most of NSW and inland southern Queensland, with no reprieve in sight.
“The climate outlook for July to September indicates a drier than average three months is likely for large parts of the country, including most of the eastern mainland,” the Bureau said.
The pessimistic weather outlook has rocked residents in drought-ravaged communities but Mr Petty said those in his community are “very resilient” and, like him, hopeful of finding some good bores to keep things ticking.
But he admits the warmer summer months just over the horizon have him worried.
“I’m not a negative person but I’m being realistic when I say I don’t think we’ve seen the worst of it,” he said.
In the Southern Downs region, Ms Dobie said locals are supporting each other as best they can, but some primary producers have had to de-stock while others have watched crops die.
“A bushfire is one thing, a flood is one thing, but a drought is horrific,” she said.
❝ I’m not a negative person but I’m being realistic when I say I don’t think we’ve seen the worst of it. — Peter Petty