Mark Rodda, Independent candidate for the electorate of Tamworth, has called on state and Commonwealth governments to pool their resources for genuine investigations into alternative water supplies for Tamworth city and Walcha.
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“If Council and businesses want a 100,000 strong population, then it’s quite clear our region needs alternative solutions to our current water woes,” Mr Rodda said.
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“There is no point raising the dam wall of Chaffey Dam again, because that option requires it to rain in that catchment – which it isn’t; and Council has no control over the current water releases by the NSW Government out of Chaffey Dam.
“There should be urgent investigations into sourcing water via pipelines through the Great Dividing Range to potential plentiful sources on the other side of the Range. We cannot keep on thinking that building dams west of the Great Dividing Range is the answer. We simply are not getting the rain events to fill them.
“Engineers can do anything today; it seems the NSW Government is happy to waste billions of taxpayers’ dollars on unnecessary Sydney stadium splurge, but not to put resources into securing the critical future water supplies of residents west of the Range.
“Around rural NSW, we see rural towns drying up. Walcha needs a new water supply too, and the role of state governments is to provide that critical infrastructure to the entire population, regardless of where they may live.
“It is obvious the Government has chosen to deliver this kind of important infrastructure in a piecemeal, reactionary manner in recent years rather than proactive ongoing planning over the entire two terms of their government.
“We even see our Federal MP repetitively talking about supporting dams – but how many have rural people seen since their election in 2013? Rural people deserve better”, Mr Rodda concluded.