FREE water will be off the table at Tamworth Regional Council's new bulk water refill stations if council staff have their way.
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To offer up the water for free sends the wrong message about how precious the resource is, Waste and Water director Bruce Logan said.
"If the council chooses to provide free water then we've given council guidelines about when we think that should stop," he said.
"When we reach Level 4 water restrictions the giveaway for free water should stop."
The existing hydrant standpipes installed at the end of last year will be shut down, with seven new bulk water refill stations set to replace them.
There is no way to police access to hydrant standpipes, so anyone can connect to the free water set aside for farmers at the moment.
Complaints that residents have been accessing the free water and using it to treat their lawns have been received.
And, council has copped flack from water carters for a loss of customers that used to pay for water, Mr Logan said.
"It also gives people the opportunity to not comply with water restrictions and it's discriminatory in my view," he said.
"It means if you have a trailer and a 1000 litre container you can get something for free, if we consider if we want to give water to farmers for example then why are we giving that free access just to farmers and not to other businesses in the city?"
The new standpipes will include a credit card reader and identification card reader that can be used to access free water - those cards will only be given to people who need it.
Staff will recommend that council cut-off free water access at Tuesday's meeting because at the moment the rest of the community subsidises the use.
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Farming is a business and council staff argue that the same opportunity isn't being given to other businesses in town.
It costs $2.50 to fill a 1000 litre container at the bulk water refill stations, at that price council has already lost $15,200 in income.
If council decides to continue the free water it will likely only be until Level 4 water restrictions are imposed, at the same point that Nundle's use stopped.
Since the unenforceable hydrant standpipes have been installed 6095 kilolitres of free water have been used from the seven stations.