COUNTRY music festival campers have been put on notice by the council when it comes to water use.
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The festival - and the associated influx of visitors - has become a flash point for locals concerned with the region's dwindling water supply.
While the council has reiterated the insignificant increase in consumption during the festival, water director Bruce Logan has issued a warning to campers.
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"We are stepping up our policing of the use of water in our Riverside camping fields," he said.
"This year, people will see the rangers there a lot more."
According to the council's data, the festival uses only an additional five megalitres across the 10-day event.
The city uses 19 megalitres per day outside of the festival dates, so Mr Logan said it was an insignificant increase.
Nonetheless, council rangers will be keeping a close eye on the campers, who might have noticed some other water-saving changes at Riverside.
Taps have been removed from the campgrounds to block visitors from connecting caravans to the water supply.
"The taps are available for people to fill up buckets and that sort of thing," Mr Logan said.
The city has been under tough level 5 restrictions since September; this bans locals from using any treated water outside.
"I have spoken about that until I am blue in the face, but country music does not use very much water compared to our daily consumption in Tamworth," he said.
"I am confident we will see that again this year."