Bathurst Aqua Park opening date delayed due to flood damage

Work only recently got under way at Chifley Dam in anticipation for the November 19 opening date, however the influx of water to the catchment has undone a lot of the setup work.

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Aqua park owner Michael Hickey said they will have to "start from scratch" to get the park open in the coming weeks.

"We were supposed to open this weekend, which definitely will not happen," he said.

"It's just a matter of trying to get it all back in and we've got to start from scratch. We were just about finished, just about in, and then this happened and it has basically destroyed a lot of the park, so we've got to try and pull out some things and get it all back in."

He said that the elements of the park already in the water appear to be largely unaffected, however, the equipment laid out on the bank of the dam took a hit.

"Because we were putting the park into the water, all the stuff on the bank, a lot of that got washed into the water because it rose so quickly," he said.

"It was just all floating in the dam. We had to come retrieve it.

"We're probably missing some bits and pieces. We don't really know yet until we can start getting in the water and doing things properly."

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Thankfully, the water level has dropped substantially after the flooding event.

At this stage, Mr Hickey anticipates staff will be able to get back into the water on Wednesday to start reassembling the equipment.

Provided there are no further setbacks, the aqua park should be able to open for its 2022-23 season a week later than planned, on November 26.

Mr Hickey said that, so long as the park is all in the water, it should be able to cope should there be another similar flooding event later in the season.

"The rain doesn't usually bother us, it was just we had that big influx of water ... that's what sort of buggered us. No one knew it was going to rise as much as it did," he said.

"If we have another event like this and all the park was in the water, not half in, you just sink the park. It just goes under and then when the water comes back down it's already floating there and you just pump it back up."

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