TAMWORTH council is now considering piping treated wastewater to certain users to keep their operations going through this intense drought.
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It comes after a failed trial pumping the treated sewage down the Peel River as a means of boosting supplies for high security users like chicken processor Baiada.
This trial was deemed a failure by the council, but the water department appears keen to explore every possible option.
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The council's water director Bruce Logan said the possibility of a pipeline was now being investigated.
"The effluent reuse trial ... the council made a decision it wasn't a success," he said.
"We had a discussion with some, not all, because they were too far away, but the closest users to Westdale wastewater treatment plant about the possibility of taking the effluent in a pipeline to those sites.
"We are still talking about that, we are still working on that."
The council's push to provide the poultry farms with recycled water has met a few hurdles since the idea was floated last year.
Other farmers in the region hit out at the proposal.
John Bridgen criticised the council for prioritising one business above all others.
"If Baiada is having problems, maybe they should consider cutting their numbers like every other industry in this valley," he said.
There was also a significant financial factor for the council to consider.
The recycled water is currently pumped to a lucerne farm whose operator has an existing arrangement with the council.
The council would have been lumped with a significant compensation cost if it backed out of this deal.
The council's trial released 30 megalitres of recycled water from the Westdale treatment down the Peel River on two occasions.
Ahead of the trial releases, the council water manager, Dan Coe, flagged seepage as an unknown factor in the project.