AIR conditioners could be in the sights of the city's drought taskforce as the council begins to plan for life in the region after level 5 water restrictions.
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One of the first items on the agenda for the new action group will be considering evaporative air conditioners and their potential drain on water supplies.
There has been no recommendation made on the coolers yet, but mayor Col Murray said it would be investigated and potentially come before council.
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He said the council left those types of coolers out of the the current drought management plan and conceded it could end up in the "too hard basket".
But the fact the matter is even being considered highlights the city's water concerns.
According to NSW government data, evaporative coolers can use between 10 to 30 litres of water an hour, depending on the unit's size and the relative humidity.
The council's drought management plan has stated tighter personal water-use targets could be rolled out if the dry-spell continues.
The initial target would be 150 litres, but it could get as low as 100 litres per person per day.
Cr Murray said the various implications for air-con restrictions could see the evaporative cooling proposal knocked on the head before it had even begun.
"The real challenges in this are people in the older houses that don't have split system cooling," he said.
"The aged care and infirm; a lot of the schools and a lot of large businesses have evaporative cooling."
He said this type of cooling was a "genuine option" for people in the region because of the low-humidity climate.
The taskforce set to discuss the cooling proposal was only rubber-stamped at the council's most recent meeting.
The new group is set to meet this week.
It will map out possible emergency actions which could be taken if the city's main water supply, Chaffey Dam, continues to deplete.
Tougher measures could be implemented if Chaffey falls to 15, 10 or even five per cent.
The dam is currently at 21.1 per cent and once it falls to 20 per cent, the council will enforce level 5 restrictions.
The council's water supply taskforce includes members from across the council, education, NSW Health, emergency services, WaterNSW, the business chamber, as well as Kevin Anderson and Barnaby Joyce.
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.
