Dubbo Regional Council has been campaigning for the facility and hopes the last piece of funding will be included in the NSW government's budget.

Council's director liveability Skye Price said the lotus symbol was incredibly well matched to the cause.

"The lotus is quite unusual. It has its roots based in mud, it submerges every night into the murky river water, which doesn't sound appealing at all, but it's undeterred by this and reblooms each and every single day without any residue on its petals. It's quite miraculous," Ms Price said.

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"Then it goes through a revival. One of the incredible things about the lotus is the seed on its own can withstand thousands of years without and then germinate on its own centuries later. It blows my mind."

Ms Price said the design of the lotus for the Dubbo Needs a Rehab campaign showed a beautiful synergy between the need for looking after the people in our region and further west, and having something bright and colourful that could convey the story in a meaningful way.

Lotus flowers were released into the river by council's Michael McMahon and Ben Shields, as well as Lewis Burns, Tsukasa Hiraoko and Pam Wells.

For more information on the drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre, or to sign the pledge, head to dubbo.nsw.gov.au/dubboneedsarehab.

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