A BID by the council to enforce restrictions on groundwater use in the region has been abandoned after a unanimous vote by the councillors.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The vote came at Tuesday's ordinary meeting where the council heard some impassioned pleas from local farmers relying on groundwater supplies at the moment.
There was a raft of water-related measures endorsed at the meeting in front of a large crowd of local irrigators and Japanese visitors from sister-city, Sannohe.
READ MORE:
Deputy mayor Phil Betts led the charge against the restrictions from the council benches.
He said the drought was in "uncharted territory" and it had posed some "exceptionally difficult" questions of the council.
Cr Betts said there needed to be equity in the debate and called for the restrictions to not be entertained.
The original recommendation to the council said it could request restrictions under Section 324 of the Water Management Act.
This could be enforced without ministerial approval "to cope with a water shortage- due to record low inflow and high delivery loss".
The report said there was "insufficient resource to supply the full account of alluvial water, if essential supplies are to be maintained for 2019/20" and cited a "threat to public health and safety".
But Cr Betts, backed by Glenn Inglis, believed there were still questions about the connection of the river and ground water supplies.
Cr Inglis said the decision to nix groundwater restrictions was made to show the council had been "consistent, fair and impartial" in its decision making.
He said there were 17 bores it would affect.
But he said the council should think of those bores fundamentally as businesses.
"All of the businesses in the city are not restricted in any way," he said.
Cr Inglis said there was "insufficient evidence to justify the request".
The decision must have come as a relief to the local irrigators who helped fill the council chambers and laid out some of the consequences of groundwater restrictions in the area.
Some said it would shut down the industry in a short period of time.
While Lew Hyson questioned how much water would be saved in a move which believed would send many "to the wall".
Another farmer Wayne Gardner outlined the potential consequences with pointed comment for the council.
"We'd lose production and our only way of paying the mortgage," Mr Gardner said.
He pointed to a sign on the wall and reminded those present it read "Tamworth Regional Council".
"From what I have seen in my time in the area, it is very much Tamworth City Council."