After reportedly seven years of failing to plan for town water by the state government, councils are set to ask them to give them the money to do it themselves.
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Gunnedah Shire Council Mayor Jamie Chaffey will this month take a motion to the Country Mayors' Association asking government to fund the development of plans to guarantee water supply
A report found last year that government had failed to effectively administer town water infrastructure planning since at least 2014.
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Cr Chaffey will ask the association to call on the NSW government to engage with local government joint organisations to "provide a strategic and evidenced approach to address water security and the investment in infrastructure required for the economic development Regional, Rural and Region NSW".
They would start by funding Joint Organisations like Namoi Unlimited to do their own strategic planning, to guarantee water supply.
The motion will also call on government to help council staff develop their skills and training for water and waste treatment.
Some $5 billion of new investment would be needed in new water infrastructure to deal with climate change, according to a 2019 estimate by the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, the 2020 report said.
The report by the state's Auditor-General found $1 billion had been spent without a "strategic approach for targeting town water infrastructure".
The NSW government only began developing a state water strategy in 2020, the report said.
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