THE prime minister Scott Morrison will make a funding announcement at Dungowan Dam near Tamworth on Sunday.
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Two days after running water for the Prime Minister's XIII football team in Fiji, Mr Morrison will be flying in to town to keep the water running in Tamworth for years to come.
New England MP Barnaby Joyce told The Leader the PM was readying to make an announcement in the region on Sunday.
"He is not turning up to go for a stroll around because he had nothing else on," Mr Joyce said.
The former deputy prime minister "wasn't privvy to the details yet" but he understood a funding announcement was forthcoming.
"We already have $75 million on the table [for Dungowan Dam] and our goal is to get this thing built," he said.
"Obviously, that is now going to happen.
"That is excellent news for all the people of the city of Tamworth."
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It is not yet know how much the federal government will put towards the project.
Mr Joyce, the former special envoy for drought, however, said this dam expansion won't get Tamworth through the current dry spell.
"All you can do in a drought is build water infrastructure for the next drought and learn from the drought you're in as to how much more water you need," he said.
He said the nation was behind the eight-ball on water storage ans also suggested dams weren't the single solution.
"Australia's population is growing; Tamworth's population is growing," he said.
"Yet we have the dam infrastructure for about 18 million people and we have 26 million people living here."
"Yes, you're more efficient; you're more prudent, but you got to have more water stored."