THE arsenic contamination in Uralla's dwindling water supply hasn't decreased and the council has called for funding from the state government to fix the issue.
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Uralla mayor Michael Pearce called on the community to reduce water use as the council works towards installing a carbon filtration system in the dam.
"The arsenic level in our dam is not decreasing," Cr Pearce said.
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"We're looking at getting a carbon filtration system worth about $500,000 put in place within the next two weeks.
"So, we're speaking to our local member, Adam Marshall, about getting some funding to get this filtration system put in place, but what I need to say to people out there is that we need to be water wise at the moment."
The mayor said people needed to limit personal water use to about 150 litres a day and assured the community bottled water would be supplied in coming weeks until the filtration system was in place.
Cr Pearce said Kentucky Creek Dam was at 33 per cent and had not received any run off from the recent storms.
He said Uralla's day zero was due in May, and bringing in bottled water was costing somewhere between $3000 - $5000 per day, so it was not a viable solution for the long-term.
Cr Pearce said, with bottled drinking water being supplied, he could not understand why water consumption had not fallen.
Mr Marshall said council would be provided with $150,000 worth of emergency funding to investigate and implement a number of strategies it had to extend the life of the water supply of Uralla and Bundarra.
"Council's target, like the Guyra and Armidale councils is 150 litres per person per day; at the moment those levels are over 200 litres per person per day," he said.
"That's simply not sustainable, now or in good times. With a quarter of a million bottles of water being trucked in, that figure should be dropping, not increasing."
Mr Marshall said there was a huge need for the community to cooperate with the council to make sure day zero is avoided.
He said the funding would allow council to drill more test bores in an attempt to find groundwater which would supplement supplies
It would also allow the council to investigate longer-term options, including water recycling and extending the Kentucky Dam wall.
