Cr Jim Maxwell said he’d previously raised the issue with council’s Water Director Bruce Logan and was happy so do so again.

“I don’t know what the solution is, but it’s time to have another look at it – a fresh approach with fresh eyes,” Cr Maxwell said.

“We’ll bring it to their attention and see how we go.”

Cr Mark Rodda said he could only imagine how “hideous” it would be to deal with hard water on a day-to-day basis.

“It’s one of the unfortunate realities of living in a small community that needs to access ground water,” Cr Rodda said.

Council has trialled water softening at Barraba, however Cr Mark Rodda said that was seven years ago and technology may have moved forward.

“I’m more than happy for council to investigate all the options to mitigate the effects,” he said.

Cr Juanita Wilson said she’d lived out west and survived on bore water for several years, so she understood the damage it could cause.

“My understanding is there was a trial several years ago at Barraba that didn’t prove effective,” she said.

“I’m keen to follow that up and see what alternatives there are to improve the current situation at Attunga.”

Cr Glenn Inglis said while water hardness was expensive to remove, council had a responsibility to ensure all available treatment technologies were identified and researched with a full cost-benefit analysis.

“Attunga water has a hardness rating of approximately 300 mg/litre – the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines state that water hardness above 500 mg/litre will cause severe scaling,” he said.