TAMWORTH Regional Council could pour $210,000 into a raft of water watching measures as focus on the city's long term supply sharpens.
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Councillors will vote on a new suite of water sustainability measures at their meeting on Tuesday night, including the installation of automated monitoring on properties suspected of ignoring restrictions.
The trial monitoring program would see 100 meters installed in the region to accurately gauge the consumption of water on the properties.
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The automated meter readers have the capacity to read and store one month worth of data on water use at 15-minute intervals.
"When this information is downloaded, analysis can be undertaken to see how much, and when, water was actually flowing through the water meter," the council's water sustainability officer Ian Lobban said in his report.
"As a result [automated meter reading] meters can be used, amongst other things, to check for water restrictions compliance."
It will cost about $52,000 to install the first 100 meters whilst the council will also open up an expression of interest process to see whether it would be worthwhile expanding the program through the region.
The current drought conditions have also prompted the council to go even further with its program of water audits.
An audit of 53 thirsty businesses in Tamworth individually using more than 3.5 megalitres per year will begin soon.
But, if approved, council will extend the audit to its own operations and private residences.
It would include a $45,000 review of water use at 20 council-run facilities in the region.
A further measure would include offering rebates to property owners who want to undertake an audit of their consumption.
It would include an analysis of "consumption against size of property and number of occupants", leaks, finding potential areas of waste and testing of water using devices, among other things.
Should the council vote on the measure, it would be managed through the current residential water saving rebate scheme, where a person would be provided with a refund of $100 once they have provided documentary proof that a general water audit has been conducted at the residential property by a licensed plumber.
The drought response measures also include a $35,000 spend on groundwater modelling within a five kilometre radius from the Calala water treatment plant and a $73,000 splash on "community education materials".
The councillors will also vote on a call to limit access to bulk water station strictly to carters once level four restrictions come into effect.
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.
