Tamworth: NSW water minister Rose Jackson concerned with Dungowan Dam project

Recently sworn in Labor water minister Rose Jackson has concerns with the construction of a new Dungowan Dam.

It's expensive, and will have significant effects, she said.

"If not done right, it will not actually resolve the water security issues," she said.

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The former Liberal National government announced plans to split the $1.3 billion price tag and build a dam in the lead up to the federal election in May 2022.

The region needs more water supply to continue to grow, Tamworth MP and former water minister Kevin Anderson said.

"Water security underpins a lot of that growth, and if you don't have water security, that places growth for the city in jeopardy," he said.

If the water minister does not support a new Dungowan Dam, then Mr Anderson said she needs to fund fixing the old one.

"You can't not have increasing supply, you've either got to have a new dam, or you have to upgrade the old one," he said.

Since being sworn into the portfolio, of which she was previously shadow minister, Ms Jackson has had one briefing with the water division of the department of planning and environment.

A call on the project will be made "in the next little while", she said.

"We know that those communities want certainty about what the plan is, so I respect that that's something that we're going to have to do," she said.

Ms Jackson mentioned alternative water methods such as smart taps, parks, gardens and watering projects, water purification plants, and reverse osmosis.

"I think those are the types of things that you can do at the town level to either save water so that more water is available for drinking," she said.

"Or provide alternative sources of water, particularly for environmental or industrial purposes, so that town drinking water is protected."

The dam's construction would provide options into the future, Tamworth mayor Russell Webb said, but council's priority is a water purification model.

"We need to work with the state government, and the new water minister to try and fast track what we're trying to do to improve our water security," he said.

A water purification plant will take abattoirs off the city's supply, and the facility will treat the water and recycle it back to processors.

It will cost $100 million for the construction of the plant and associated infrastructure, Mr Webb said.

"It is expensive, but nothing's going to come cheaply," he said.

The government needs to catch up in terms of legislation and regulation to allow a water purification plant to be built and operated, he said.

Building a scheme or system to provide potable water through reverse or forward osmosis is too costly and energy hungry, he said.

"At this point in time, that is not something that we're even considering," he said.

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