On Thursday morning, 14 July council has yet to make any changes to the ongoing boil water alert in place around Dubbo.
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At a press conference on Monday morning, 11 July, Dubbo Regional Council mayor Mathew Dickerson gave an update on the current boil water alert active in Dubbo and when residents can expect their town water to return to normal.
Dubbo residents woke up to a 'boil water' alert from council last week, leading many to rush out and buy as up much bottled water as they could, leaving store shelves empty. This was caused by recent floods which brought contaminants into the water supply that made the treated town water unsafe to consume.
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Council said this week residents may see large volumes running through the storm water system and water pressure may be impacted but that the process of lifting the boil water alert will come in stages.
"We'll do our best to make sure we minimise the number of days possible, so I don't see us lifting that boil water alert for any of our reservoirs before Thursday and there will be some time after that - several days after that - with some of the different reservoirs," Cr Dickerson said.
"That's part of the process as well. It'll be a staged process. So out three main reservoirs Newtown, Buninyong and Rifle Range Road will be the reservoirs we lift the boil water alert from first... and then we'll lift the other reservoirs as we can in terms of when that water is in those reservoirs is below that 0.1 per cent dilution level.
"...We will notify the public as we break out of the boil water alert in certain zones, and that's incredibly important. It won't be lifted all in one go. So if you hear in the media that some of the boil water alert has been lifted, make sure you check where you live and what zone you're in and what reservoir you're being fed from so you know.
"I would ask the public, keep boiling your water so you're sure - keep doing that - until you're sure the zone you're in... has been lifted. It may be confusing because it may be that your workplace be in an area that has the boil water alert lifted but not at home or vice versa, so pay attention to that..."
"The staging of the cleansing of our reservoirs - basically we have to start from the first receivers of the water from the plant... and then work out way through each of the reservoirs because they're all fed from one reservoir to another one which pushed the water through the whole system," Council's Director of Infrastructure, Luke Ryan said.
"It will be a staged approach in terms of cleaning reservoirs and that's why we got a bit of an extension in terms of the timeframe to do that."
Council has set up an FAQ page that answers questions residents may have.