IT'S a "flawed application".
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That's what the Winburndale Waters Conservation Group says about Bathurst Regional Council's hoped-for compromise for the watercourse's flows.
Council's director of engineering services Darren Sturgiss described Winburndale Dam, north-east of Bathurst, as "akin to a bathtub with the plug out of it" at the most recent council meeting.
"Until that time that ... the dam rules are amended, you have a $50 million asset that, fundamentally, on paper, is worthless," he warned councillors.
Councillors went on, after a long discussion, to vote to submit an updated environmental assessment to the regulator as part of council's push to change the conditions of the licence for Winburndale Dam, which will affect how much water is able to flow from the impoundment into the Winburndale Rivulet.
Asked about that decision from the councillors, Michael Inwood from the Winburndale Waters Conservation Group said the group is of the opinion "that the current Bathurst Regional Council application to the regulator is flawed and will not comply" with the water act.
Winburndale Dam
- Built in the 1930s.
- Recently upgraded.
- Constructed for the purpose of Bathurst town water supply.
- Has historically provided daily water supply and critical supply during drought.
Winburndale Rivulet
- Ran dry downstream of Winburndale Dam during the most recent drought.
- Low flows out of the dam were blamed for the extinction of the platypus in the rivulet.
- A platypus sighting in the rivulet last year, thought to have migrated from the Macquarie River, has been welcomed by the Winburndale Waters Conservation Group as sign of the rivulet's recovery.
Mr Inwood said, in a statement, that it wouldn't comply because, in the group's opinion, the "modelling used by council is based on compromised data due to the incomplete record keeping for decades and lack of monitoring equipment, all of which are requirements of the council's licence" and "the suggested flow rate of 1.4 ML per day is below the expert opinion of Professor David Goldney, who suggests a figure between 2 and 4 ML per day as required to maintain the environment below the dam".
He also said the proposed rule four "preservation of storage", which would shut off all environmental flows when the dam reaches 25 per cent, would directly contravene the Water Management Act 2000.
"The application seeks to take water from one section of the community (who have statutory water rights) and give it to another," Mr Inwood said.
"This discriminates against rural residents/businesses in favour of urban residents/businesses and creates an 'us and them' situation.
"This is unthinkable in a rural community such as Bathurst and goes against the basic premise of the Macquarie-Castlereagh Water Sharing Plan."
Mr Inwood said council had voted to take the application to the regulator despite the shortcomings being pointed out and an offer from the Winburndale Waters Conservation Group "to collaborate on an application that could be acceptable".
"The matter is now with the regulator again after several years and after major expenditure of ratepayers' money, possibly as much as $500,000," he said.
History lesson
THE Winburndale Rivulet - which is dammed north-east of Bathurst and then runs into the Macquarie River south of Hill End - ran dry downstream of the dam at one stage during the most recent big drought.
Bathurst Regional Council subsequently lost a Supreme Court of NSW case in June 2022 in regards to the correct interpretation of the operating licence conditions for the dam.
A report later that year from Mr Sturgiss said council considered the Supreme Court matter to have been "close and complex" and said the depth of the discussion in the judgement appeared to accept that the conditions for the flow rules were unclear.
In the report by Mr Sturgiss to the most recent council meeting, he said the new interpretation of the dam's operating conditions (described as "very different to council's understanding of the operating conditions") means the "secure yield" the city can take from the dam has been reduced from 1033ML a year historically to 28ML.
This was described in the report as "effectively nullifying the dam's use and purpose".
"Since Winburndale Dam recently has had a $17m wall strengthening project completed, which increases the value of the dam to in excess of $50m, the current interpretation of the Operating Rules reduces the value of the dam to zero," the report from Mr Sturgiss said.
The dam's raw water supply is used for parks, gardens, open space and some key and significant businesses in town, as well as historically being relied upon to provide critical potable supply during drought times.
At the meeting
DURING discussion on the matter at the June meeting, councillor Ian North suggested that council hold off on submitting its updated environmental assessment for the Winburndale Dam operating conditions so that a further discussion between council and the Winburndale Waters Conservation Group could be held.
Mr Sturgiss emphasised that the process to have the flow rules for the dam altered would take some time as it is, possibly taking the city into summer.
Cr North said a few more weeks might be worth it to "make sure we have got it right", but Cr Graeme Hanger was in favour of dealing with the matter on the night because of the years that had already passed since the initial conflict about the flow rules.
"Let's put our big people pants on and make a damn decision," he said.
After a long discussion, councillors eventually voted to submit the application and to provide an information session on the application for members of the Winburndale Water Users Group at the earliest possible opportunity.
