On Wednesday night, NSW Parliament heard doubling the size for Malpas Dam by adding five metres of height to its wall would "... well and truly ensure a long-term water supply for both the Armidale and the Guyra communities." It left some on Armidale Regional Council wondering how the devil council was going to afford it.
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Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall said Armidale Regional Council, as owner of the infrastructure, would have to put together a project proposal to lift the capacity of Malpas Dam from 13,000 to 26,000 megalitres.
... there's no better time to build in large dams ... than in a dry period, so you're ready when the big rains come again.
- Adam Marshall
"Council would have to put together a scope of works, costing for that project and a hydrological piece of work just to show that the catchment can support a dam that's double the capacity," he said.
Mr Marshall said much of the work had been done before, when the dam was being built in the 1960s.
"They built it with the intention of it always to be expanded. They built it with the plans done for the expansion, but at the time, given the size of Armidale, they didn't see the need to spend the extra money," he said.
"Now, there's no better time to build in large dams ... than in a dry period, so you're ready when the big rains come again.
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"I've already talked to NSW Public Works, I've talked to the Minister for Water and tried to give council every support it needs to get that work underway as quickly as possible."
He thought with the $1.5 billion Water For the Regions Program available there was no better time to strike than now, and asked if he thought council could afford this just now, he said it was a question for council.
Mr Marshall said the cost of the project needed to be determined along with the project's feasibility. If the project was doable the discussion about payment could be held then.
"It's also a project that is not just about raising the dam wall. At the moment there is just a single pipeline that connects Malpas Dam to Armidale," he said.
"At the moment, if there is a failure in that pipeline no water can get to Armidale.
"I think it would be prudent, if we are going to raise the dam wall, to build a second pipeline, a redundancy, from Malpas Dam to Armidale so the city will never be cut off from its water supply."
Armidale Regional Council Mayor Simon Murray said such a project would be way beyond council's financial capability, now and well into the future.
"It's going to take many millions of dollars because there is still a lot of work to be done on the dam wall, in addition to the gates," Cr Murray said.
"Yes, it has been designed to do it, but we would have to make sure the top section is structurally sound for the increase in water depth.
"Engineers would have to go up there and have a look at the conditions are now and what they would have to be to withstand a one in 10,000-year storm. All that has to be taken into consideration, and I don't know what those requirements would be on that dam."
