Uralla Shire Council received a State Government emergency grant to cover the cost of its water treatment plant enhancement to remove harmful arsenic from the town's potable water supply on Tuesday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Uralla was renowned for its vibrant hospitality sector and CBD, but has taken a real hit due to its water contamination issue since December last year when it began relying on bottled drinking water for human consumption.
Since February, council staff has been working with Water NSW engineers to find an appropriate solution, which would bring arsenic levels back within the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines, and Uralla Mayor Michael Pearce said Funding worth $1.27 million will be available to council immediately.
RELATED READING:
"At the start of March, council initiated plans to install a Granular Activated Carbon filter at its water treatment plant at Kentucky Creek Dam, combined with a ferric chloride pre-treatment process, as a means of tackling both organic and inorganic arsenic compounds," he said.
"This funding will cover any costs it accrues while installing and upgrading infrastructure, meaning no added impost to ratepayers.
"The addition of Granular Activated Carbon to Uralla's water treatment process will not only mitigate future elevated levels of arsenic, but also provide the community with cleaner, better tasting drinking water long term."
Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall said funds had also been made available to continue providing bottled water until the issue is resolved, which could be sometime in April.
"Council has advised recent testing of the raw water supply has shown significantly reduced arsenic levels due to dilution following recent rain," he said.
"Improvements to the treatment plant through optimising the chemical dosing have provided for treated water with arsenic levels approaching the 0.01mg/L guideline value."
