outbreak. ▪ Photo contributed
It seems strange with all the recent rain we’ve had that Cobar Shire Council would need to impose water restrictions.
However for the past two weeks Cobar residents have been asked to curb their water use as council works to sort out a problem with our water quality.
Mayor Jarrod Marsden advised residents (via a letterbox drop on January 12 and through social media) that Level 1 water restrictions would take effect immediately as the Cobar Water Filtration Plant was struggling to treat the poor quality water we were receiving from the Bogan River.
“We have been using our reserve storage supply to minimise the use of the Nyngan raw water. However this has reduced our storage levels significantly,” Cr Marsden reported.
Council’s policy is to keep three months worth of water in local storages and the restrictions are a proactive move by council to ensure the storages remain topped up.
Council’s general manager Peter Vlatko told The Cobar Weekly on Monday that a Blue-green algae Red Alert had been issued for the Bogan River and Cobar Shire’s weir pool (at Nyngan) which was being monitored by the NSW Health Department.
Mr Vlatko said the Cobar Water Filtration Plant can normally handle treating poor quality water however the current supply “has been proving difficult”.
“There’s nothing wrong with the plant.
“We’ve had a number of experts come and have a look and work out what we can do,” Mr Vlatko said.
“We’ve introduced restrictions to help cut down on use and lower the demand.”
He said during the hotter months the demand on the filtration plant is very high with residents using more water in their homes (ie to run air conditioners) and in their gardens.
Mr Vlatko said the recent rain has helped to lower the demand however he hopes Cobar residents will continue to be waterwise and adhere to the Level 1 restrictions (as outlined in council’s advertisement on Page 7) until the problem is resolved.
He said if the problem isn’t however soon resolved, council may need to move to Level 2 or Level 3 restrictions in order to preserve our local storage levels.
The Blue-green algae Red Alert warning applies only to untreated water and remains in place until monitoring and test results confirm that the risk is sufficiently diminished.
Potentially toxic blue-green algae may cause gastroenteritis if consumed, while contact can cause skin and eye irritations.
A number of Cobar residents have recently experienced discoloured water and poor water pressure.
Mr Vlatko said this was due to other unrelated problems, ie broken water pipes.
He recommends anyone experiencing dirty water to first run their taps for some time until the water runs clear.
He said if it fails to come clean to report the matter to council who will investigate and flush the line.
