COUNCILs REACH WATER STORAGE AGREEMENT

Gosford City and Wyong Shire Councils have taken another step towards securing the Central Coast’s water supply.

Both Councils welcomed today’s announcement by NSW Minister for Water Utilities, The Hon Nathan Rees MP, that excess water collected from the coastal dam at Mardi during rainy periods will be temporarily stored in the Hunter Region and then credited back to the Councils’ water supply as required.

Wyong Mayor, Councillor Bob Graham said that Mardi Dam is currently full and the agreement with Hunter Water was a practical way to capture water which otherwise would have spilled over the weir and been lost.

“During this unprecedented drought our focus is to harvest as much water as we can now for the benefit of the broader community in the future,” said Mayor Graham.

“Despite Mardi Dam being at capacity, and with Mooney Dam expected to fill in the near future, we need to remember that our total water storage capacity is still low at 15.6%.”

Today’s agreement with Hunter Water Corporation allows Gosford and Wyong Councils to transfer up to 8 million litres of water a day back into the Hunter storage system, for an initial period of three months.

Gosford Mayor, Laurie Maher said transferring water temporarily back to the Hunter was currently the only way to ensure the water was not wasted.

“The Hunter Pipeline link has given us considerable flexibility in the way we are able to manage our water supply,” said Councillor Maher.

Construction began on the Hunter pipeline link in May 2006 and the link was officially opened in December 2006. The project involved building a 30km pipeline from Morisset to Warnervale and two new pump stations at Fennell Bay and Morisset at a cost of $37.3 million.

Mayor Graham said the water storage agreement with Hunter Water Corporation provided a good interim solution to managing surplus water supplies from the smaller dams.

“This Agreement is useful in the short to medium term but we are dependent on Hunter Water Corporation having the spare capacity to store our water,” said Mayor Graham

“This Agreement highlights our urgent need to fund and build the link between Mardi and Mangrove Creek Dams, so we can move surplus water from our smaller dams into our main storage reservoir,” said Mayor Graham,

“In my view this link is integral to securing the long term water supply for the Central Coast.”

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