The stirred-up Macquarie River has prompted Dubbo Regional Council to fast-track projects costing $2.1 million including the installation of turbidity meters and disinfecting of water using ultraviolet (UV) light tubes.
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The projects will benefit Dubbo, Wellington and Geurie.
Wellington has been on a boil water alert since February 5 with the council still providing bottled water to "key facilities in the town including schools".
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The council has advised that the turbidity meters are being installed and will give earlier earning when poor quality raw water is flowing in the river.
The council's director infrastructure Julian Geddes said the UV project at Dubbo, Wellington and Geurie would assist in managing water quality. The council plans to install UV systems at Wellington and Geurie this year.
Mr Geddes said previous work to combat river turbidity included filter remediation, pond relining and new dosing systems.
He said the new projects were being implemented as river turbidity, colour and higher levels of manganese continued to hamper water treatment to meet NSW Health standards at Wellington.
"Improvement in test results of water being treated at the Wellington plant has fluctuated using chemical dosing and more mechanical treatment is now being implemented," Mr Geddes said.
"Extra treatment of the water in Wellington has also included adding aeration to the settlement pond and modifying backwash systems to try and improve the plant's ability to process unusually poor quality raw water."
Mr Geddes said the council had "not experienced these types of issues with the raw water before, even after coming out of previous droughts".
