A LOBBY effort to change the plans that determine Tamworth's water security for the next decade has just two weeks on the clock.
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Water sharing plans will be submitted to the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) on June 30, and at this point are still based on data that completely ignores the current drought.
The #changetheplan2340 campaign asks residents to write to MP Kevin Anderson and sign a petition to push Water Minister Melinda Pavey to take concerns raised by TRC on board.
So far a few hundred people have visited the website and residents have signed the petition, a TRC spokeswoman said.
"The current water sharing plan does not provide the required amount of water security for Tamworth, Moonbi and Kootingal," she said.
"Council has raised the issue with the Minister for Water [Melinda Pavey] a number of times but no changes that have been suggested by Council have yet been made to the proposed water sharing plan.
"With the community's support Council hopes that the minister will hear the message and understand the level of concern on this issue and therefore make the suggested changes to the water sharing plan."
The council wants a daily requirement for 3ML of water to be released from Chaffey Dam for the environment to be removed. There was no confirmation from Ms Pavey's office that the changes submitted by TRC would be made.
The water sharing plans will be able to be amended at any time if it's in the public interest to do so, a spokeswoman for Ms Pavey said.
"This will happen as part of the implementation phase of approved regional water strategies, not just in response to any agreed changed to our approach to allocating water, but also as any new approved infrastructure comes online," she said.
"If the current drought was factored in to the water sharing plan and reliability was increased for Tamworth, there would be a decrease in allocations for general security licence holders."
A new $480 million dam at Dungowan will see the old dam decommissioned, the water held in the new dam will be mostly for town water users.
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An annual allocation will be given to Peel irrigators from Chaffey Dam and any water sharing implications of the river will need to be worked through by the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, the spokeswoman said.
"Including any changes to water sharing rules to distribute the incremental benefits of greater water security to all water users, including the environment," she said.
To read more about #changetheplan2340 visit the TRC website.