Council has just created a new Drought Contingency and Water Emergency Response Plan. Chief executive officer Michel McMahon describes it as a plan that "introduces solutions that are timely, well-considered and seek long-term innovative solutions to securing water".

It also has new guidelines around water restrictions and the triggers to determine what the Dubbo local government area should be on.

According to the document, level one restrictions will be brought in when there is 1.5 years of water security, based on the NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment's cease-to-flow date for Burrendong Dam.

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Each resident has a target of 380 litres per day.

It will be increased to level three restrictions when the city is about 10 months away from the cease-to-flow date.

After level three, council moves into stage two of its water management plan.

"Restrictions level one, two and three can be imposed without detriment to business as usual economic activities, council facilities and operations," it says.

However, stage four is more complicated.

The DCWERP states there "is a community and government expectation that council will start water restrictions when there is a serious drought".

"At the same time, it is evident from the current drought modelling and monitoring results that level four restrictions have an impact on financial and business wellbeing of the community," it says.

"A direct relationship between restrictions and river allocation is not the only tool to consider."

At stage four, Dubbo has less than six months of water security. The daily target per person per day drops down to 280 litres, and only 30 minutes of watering is permitted on Wednesdays and Sundays.

The LGA will move to level five when the 'dead' storage in Burrendong Dam starts to be pumped out, about three months before the cease-to-flow.

The 'extreme' level of restrictions has a target of 240 litres of water per person per day. It also has a ban on washing more than the windscreen, windows and number plates of cars and topping up swimming pools.

"However, in a worst case scenario, where the dead water storage is depleted at Burrendong Dam and council must rely on a depleted supply of groundwater, level six restrictions will be implemented unless further ground or surface water supplies are sourced before the next drought of record," the DCWERP says.

At that level water use is restricted to essential needs only. Essential needs are classified as those which are needed to sustain human health.

In his message on the DCWERP, Mr McMahon said drought was an inevitable part of Australian life.

"It is a tough experience to endure yet our community is resilient. This is evidenced by the awareness, understanding and appreciation our community has of the enormous task of delivering effective responses to the drought," he said.

"Our community has already shown its willingness to pull together during this drought season and we should be proud of who we are."

Dubbo's total town water extraction is for 12,700 megalitres per year. That consists of 8700ML of surface water and 4000 ML of groundwater in Dubbo, 1800ML of surface water and 350 ML of ground water for Wellington, 300ML of surface water for Geurie and 70ML of groundwater for Mumbil.