A bore war may be on the horizon as the battle to keep water flowing from Dubbo taps intensifies.
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Dubbo Regional Council has been taking "well below its entitlement" of groundwater in the Upper Macquarie alluvial aquifer, extending from Wellington to east of Narromine.
But the council's chief executive officer Michael McMahon reports that the aquifer is under pressure.
"This supply is significantly over allocated and current usage is in excess of the extraction limit for this supply," he said.
With Burrendong Dam on the way to being empty by May 2020, the council needs to increase its groundwater extraction "at least to the level of its actual entitlement".
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Mr McMahon reports that the council wants to see "greater regulation of irrigation and private bores that also draw on the same underground aquifer that Dubbo's new bores will also rely upon".
The council has been working with the Department of Primary Industries and Environment in identifying potential new bores.
It has an annual 3850 megalitres (ML) entitlement to groundwater in the Upper Macquarie alluvial aquifer of which it is taking about 2200 ML.
"Apart from a period in the early 1980s, as well as two occasions during the 1990s, over the past three decades council has been quite conservative in its use of groundwater," Mr McMahon said.
"In the early 2000s council agreed to a voluntary 50 per cent reduction in its groundwater (bore) use to reduce overall demand on the aquifer, an approach which has effectively remained in place ever since.
"The need now exists for council to increase its groundwater extraction at least to the level of its actual entitlement."
Mr McMahon said any new bores would still be "subject to the allocation conditions" set by the state government.
He also advised that the council was looking to the water trading market as a means of shoring up Dubbo's water supply.
"Dubbo Regional Council is also looking at actively seeking to acquire additional entitlements through the established water trading market, either on a temporary basis to get through the existing drought or, on a more permanent basis, to help improve this supply option over the longer term," he said.
"These can be sourced from existing active licence holders."
