A new $380,000 bore to supplement the well that infamously ran dry in 2007 was officially unveiled yesterday.

For three months at the height of the millennium drought, water had to be carted from Quirindi at significant cost.

The old supply was forecast to fail again early this year; however, the new 100m-deep bore will help drought-proof the village.

Liverpool Plains mayor Andrew Hope said the project was only possible through a generous grant from the Baird government.

“We’re very, very grateful for what this money has done for our water supply and our community,” he said.

“It’s not only to fix the water supply, but it creates employment in the town – it creates an on-flow for our local contractors and it creates ongoing work.”

The project, which took five months to complete, included the construction of a 1.5km pipeline and real-time water source monitoring. It forms part of the council’s $24 million plan to secure the water supplies of Wallabadah, Werris Creek, Willow Tree and Quirindi.

With $4.8 million already obtained for a Quirindi to Willow Tree pipeline, the council is setting its sights on raising the extra $20 million needed for a new water treatment plant and associated infrastructure at Werris Creek.

NSW Water Minister Kevin Humphries and retiring Upper Hunter MP George Souris were present at the opening.

Mr Humphries said the government would announce another $80 million in fresh funding for water security projects in the coming weeks. 

“This community might be a recipient, I’m not sure yet, of further water security projects largely being around piping, reticulation and treatment,” he said.

But Mr Humphries said one of the government’s “big-ticket” items, should it be re-elected in March, was a $1 billion water fund.

“We want to turbo-charge that, and there are about 70 communities around regional NSW that either don’t have good enough quality water, or they can’t access enough water,” he said.

The new bore will commence pumping once the NSW Office of Water grants the council an extraction licence.