COUNCIL is set to consider spending $165,000 to install a filter at the Bendemeer bore recently found to be contaminated by raised level of uranium.
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Tamworth councillors will consider a report at Tuesday night’s meeting, calling for the money to be allocated from the water reserve to install a “resin filter” for the removal of uranium at the Airlie Rd well.
“A consultant was engaged to prepare a Concept Design Report for the removal of Uranium from the groundwater supply. The consultant has recommended the resin filter as the most effective method available,” Tamworth Regional Council (TRC) water and waste director Bruce Logan said.
The report said permanently closing the bore in Bendemeer was not considered appropriate, “given issues faced by council previously to maintain supply” to the village during times of drought.
The option to find an alternative emergency water supply for the town was also shot down in the report.
“It is very unlikely that a further viable groundwater supply could be found relatively close to the community,” the report said.
Bendemeer’s primary water supply comes from the Macdonald River.
However, the Airlie Rd bore was opened in January 2015, to act as an emergency source when river stocks were low.
“This is a clever solution to a naturally occurring issue that was discovered in August 2016, when testing revealed elevated levels of uranium were present in the underground water supplies to Moonbi, Kootingal and Bendemeer,” Mr Logan said of the filter solution.
According to the consultant’s report into the removal of uranium from the bore, uranium is strongly bound to the resin and cannot be “displaced from the resin by any changes of water quality, temperature or process conditions”.
“In this regard, it is not possible to release any of the stored uranium back into the drinking water system.”
Mr Logan said trials of the proposed filter, undertaken by TRC, demonstrated almost “complete removal of uranium”.
The capacity of the filter means it wouldn’t have to be disposed of for up to 10 years, even if the Bendemeer bore operated at “maximum utilisation”.
“There is one landfill in NSW which is licensed to receive Restricted Waste and they have indicated that they are able and willing to accept the uranium,” Mr Logan said.