![Walcha Mayor Eric Noakes, left, Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall and NSW deputy premier Paul Toole walk along the embankment beside the new $11m dam on February 14. Picture Simon Scott Walcha Mayor Eric Noakes, left, Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall and NSW deputy premier Paul Toole walk along the embankment beside the new $11m dam on February 14. Picture Simon Scott](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/184392265/15fa3bf6-958c-417e-8d35-397f04d22899.JPG/r0_151_2000_1280_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The $11 million off-stream water storage project expected to quadruple Walcha's water supply is on track for completion within months.
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Walcha mayor Eric Noakes was at the MacDonald River site with NSW Deputy Premier Paul Toole and Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall on Tuesday to inspect the construction of the 320 megalitre dam.
"If everything goes alright, with a pumping station, we would think that within five months we will have it fully completed," Mr Noakes said.
![Walcha Mayor Eric Noakes, Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall and NSW deputy premier Paul Toole look into the basin of the new $11m dam for Walcha on February 14. Picture supplied Walcha Mayor Eric Noakes, Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall and NSW deputy premier Paul Toole look into the basin of the new $11m dam for Walcha on February 14. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/184392265/de71169b-4fd2-406a-b91b-c58188a5a5ec.JPG/r0_164_2000_1293_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"And hopefully we can start to fill the dam before then with the infrastructure we have."
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The project includes new access roads and fencing, new pipework to connect the dam to the town's water supply pump station 16km away and upgrades to the water inlet structure and a river offtake pumping station.
![Walcha Mayor Eric Noakes, NSW deputy premier Paul Toole and Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall inspect the new $11m dam for Walcha on February 14, which is on track for completion this year. Picture: Simon Scott Walcha Mayor Eric Noakes, NSW deputy premier Paul Toole and Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall inspect the new $11m dam for Walcha on February 14, which is on track for completion this year. Picture: Simon Scott](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/184392265/aca3e3eb-fd15-4499-a2af-7a0d8ae3db50.JPG/r0_102_2000_1231_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Work on the dam began last year, with $2 million from the National Water Grid Fund Connections Pathway and $9m from the NSW Safe and Secure Water Program in a joint federal and state funding initiative.
The off-creek storage dam is expected to provide a two-year water supply buffer for the town of Walcha in the event of a major drought such as the one that hit in 2019.
Mr Noakes said "not one drop of that water" would go towards anything else but town water for Walcha residents.
![In 2022, Walcha mayor Eric Noakes, Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall and New England MP Barnaby Joyce celebrated the start of construction on the $11 million Walcha off-stream storage dam. Picture supplied In 2022, Walcha mayor Eric Noakes, Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall and New England MP Barnaby Joyce celebrated the start of construction on the $11 million Walcha off-stream storage dam. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/184392265/83a61dfb-425c-4006-bd18-3faeaa106ea5.jpg/r0_27_1017_601_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"Back in 2018 to 2019 we were having a terrible time with water," Mr Noakes said.
"The town nearly ran out and it was only that it rained in time that we were saved."
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