RECENT inflows to Chaffey Dam might have given Tamworth an extra month's worth of water.
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Close to one gigalitre of water has flowed into dam since the weekend and many of the region's rivers have sprung back to life.
While there is no end in sight for water restrictions, it has bought the council more time to relieve pressure on town and business supplies.
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Water is flowing over the weir at Manilla and the Peel River at Nundle is running again as in the Macdonald in Bendemeer.
Water director Bruce Logan said it was one of the biggest inflows seen in at least two years.
It will bring immediate relief for the council and local chicken growers who have been trying to nut-out an ongoing solution during the drought.
"We have abandoned the idea of releasing the effluent water into the Peel River," he said.
"We are talking to the poultry growers about ideas to help them."
With strong flows in the Peel, Mr Logan said chicken farms could "start pumping from the river again and that will give them some relief".
"[It] will allow some bores to recover and we will continue to talk to them about what we can do if the drought persists," he said.
The region's rivers could pose some challenges for treatment in some communities.
"We definitely have some dirty water at Manilla which we're trying to treat," he said.
"Bendemeer is an issue as well.
"One of the good things about having storage in town, is you can take your time to a certain extent to try and wait for the turbidity levels in the raw water to fall before."
Jacob McArthur
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
