Walcha's $11 million dam set for completion within months

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.

"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.

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.

"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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