MORE than 220,000 litres of free water has been accessed from council’s standpipes which were installed to offer drought assistance.
With countless goods and a stack of cash being donated as the big dry tightened its grip, Juanita Wilson asked if council could provide practical assistance within its core functions.
As a result, seven standpipes were installed across the council area, about one month ago, which allowed people to access 1000 litre loads of free water.
READ MORE:
New figures showed 220,000 litres of water had been accessed through the standpipes with Nundle and Barraba the thirstiest communities in the Tamworth Regional Council area.
Cr Wilson said the program had proved to be worthwhile, although the figures weren’t as high as initially expected.
While there hasn’t been a deluge of use, she didn’t believe there should be greater volumes of water made available through the Lockheed Street refill station.
Council also pledged to donate revenue from the refill station to the R U Aware, We Care campaign.
“I’ve heard no complaints and no requests come in to have [the 1000 litre] capping adjusted,” she said.
“We’ve not done this before, it was an initiative taken without knowing what the response would be.”
Nundle has benefited most from the scheme with 80 people collecting 60,000 litres from the Herring Street facility.
Barraba’s Rodney Street hydrant has been accessed 67 times and splashed out 50,000 litres of water, while 37,000 litres have been dished out in Kootingal.
Standpipe usage
- Attunga - 5,000 litres
- Barraba – 50,000 litres
- Bendemeer – 21,000 litres
- Kootingal – 39,000 litres
- Manilla – 30,000 litres
- Nundle - 60,000 litres
- Tamworth - 15,000 litres
The standpipes have been installed to cater for the filling of containers with a capacity of up to 1000 litres. If an average volume of 750 litres of water is collected each time, the following provides an estimate of the number of times each standpipe has been used:
- Attunga – 7
- Barraba – 67
- Bendemeer – 28
- Kootingal – 52
- Manilla – 40
- Nundle - 80
- Tamworth – 20
Standpipe locations
- Yarran Street, Attunga
- Rodney Street, Barraba
- Caroline Street, near the corner of Aurora, Bendemeer
- Denman Avenue, Kootingal
- Charles Street, Manilla
- Herring Street, Nundle
- Jack Smyth Drive, Tamworth
Jacob McArthur
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
