Tamworth and Orange are preparing to move to level five water restrictions as Dubbo sits tight on level two.
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Water restrictions have become all the more important since NSW Water Minister Melinda Pavey announced on Sunday that Dubbo could run out of water in November.
Restrictions in Tamworth and Orange are linked to water storage "trigger points".
In Dubbo, Dubbo Regional Council will decide the next lot of restrictions for the city.
Tamworth Regional Council is set to introduce level five restrictions by the end of this month as Chaffey Dam approaches the trigger point of 20 per cent of storage capacity.
On Thursday, the dam which can hold 100 gigalitres (GL) of water, was at 20.66 per cent capacity.
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Under Tamworth Regional Council's drought management plan, it must increase restrictions to level five once the dam is at 20 per cent capacity and enter "emergency demand mode".
Residents will be urged through a "major publicity campaign" to use 150 litres (L) of water per person per day.
In nine months Tamworth will go from level one to level five restrictions.
Orange City Council delayed the launch of level five restrictions in June because residents were using an extremely low 140 L of water per person per day.
A 35 per cent capacity trigger point for level five restrictions was reduced to 30 per cent.
Orange's primary storage facility is Suma Park Reservoir, backed up by Spring Creek Reservoir.
The former can hold 19 GL of water and the latter about 4.5 GL. Combined, they are currently sitting at under 32 per cent capacity.
Orange adopted permanent level two restrictions after the previous drought.
The city moved to level three restrictions in December 2018 in keeping with a 50 per cent capacity trigger point and to level four restrictions in April 2019 in line with a 40 per cent capacity trigger point.
Level five restrictions may be introduced in October.
Dubbo Regional Council introduced level two restrictions on June 1 when Burrendong Dam was sitting at 5.64 per cent capacity.
Three-and-half months later, the figure has dropped to about 4.5 per cent amid warnings that the dam may be empty by mid-2020.
The dam, which holds 1188GL of water when full, has received 99 GL of water in the past two years.
Its annual average inflow is 1448 GL of water.
Dubbo gets about 70 per cent of its water from the dam and 30 per cent from its bores.
A plan is in place to keep water flowing into the city as a $30 million state government grant is spent by Dubbo Regional Council.
The council is looking to boost its groundwater resources and find alternative water sources.
It has alerted the community to an "intense community engagement strategy" aimed at raising awareness and knowledge of water restrictions and ways to save water.
Chief executive officer Michael McMahon has revealed a bump in water use.
"Unfortunately we have seen an increase in water usage in general which is to be expected considering the weather has warmed up," he said. "The per person per day target is 301L on level two water restrictions and we are tracking slightly above that."
Mr McMahon has told the community to expect tougher water restrictions by year's end.
The Daily Liberal asked him when the restrictions would increase and to which level. "This decision will have to be made by council," he said.