After a long wait, residents of Eumungerie and Mogriguy have access to potable water with the completion of the Eumungerie Water Supply Scheme.
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Dubbo Regional Council's works and services manager Ian Bailey said while the water had been connected since February, it had only been available for use on gardens. After flushing the system in Eumungerie and reaching satisfactory disinfection in accordance with Australian drinking water standards, it was now potable.
“A clean water system is one of the primary health care benefits to any community, so that’s the primary benefit. But there were also people who in the past had to put up tanks or cart water in from other places and they don’t have to do that now,” Mr Bailey said.
It will also offer better fire protection, with direct access to water for emergency services.
To date, 48 landholders in Eumungerie and six households in Mogriguy have signed up for the water supply. However, Mr Bailey said if someone built in the village they would be able to pay to have the water connected to their house.
The completion of the Eumungerie Water Supply Scheme has been a long time coming.
Council adopted a forward planning proposal to supply reticulated drinking water to Dubbo’s villages in 1995 and subsequently supplied drinking water to Wongarbon in 2000, Brocklehurst in 2001 and Ballimore in 2010.
The design for the Eumungerie Water Supply Scheme began in 2014, Mr Bailey said.
“There were financial issues, components of the design, public consultation, and then the construction began in 2015,” he said.
Construction took more than 12 months and included more than 35 kilometres of pipeline starting from the reservoir north of Mogriguy.
While constructing a local bore was one of the options considered, a feasibility study determined it would be better for the villages to be connected to Dubbo’s water supply.