{"id":658610,"date":"2026-06-26T03:01:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T03:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/658610\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T03:01:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T03:01:20","slug":"councils-deny-energyco-town-water-for-new-england-rez-construction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/658610\/","title":{"rendered":"Councils deny EnergyCo town water for New England REZ construction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rural councils are refusing to provide town water for Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) projects, demanding that additional water infrastructure be built first.<\/p>\n

EnergyCo’s water and wastewater security study (WWSS) shows additional potable water requirements for construction within four local government areas in the New England REZ.<\/p>\n

Between 2028 and 2032, EnergyCo would require up to 8.7 megalitres a day from Armidale, 11.8ML\/d from Uralla, 7.8ML\/d from Walcha and 7.2ML\/d from Tamworth.<\/p>\n

Most of this water would come from existing groundwater and surface\u2011water treatment systems, for large amounts of concreting works and worker accommodation.<\/p>\n

The study found that the treatment capacity of the Uralla and Walcha councils could not accommodate the additional demand on top of what ratepayers needed.<\/p>\n

It also found that all four council areas would be unable to supply the required volumes during periods of “peak” water demand such as summer days where water usage spikes.<\/p>\n

\"an<\/p>\n

Armidale council believes raising Malpas Dam’s wall would ease water pressures for the REZ’s construction. (Supplied: Armidale Regional Council)<\/p>\n

Last month, Armidale Regional Council passed a motion not to allocate water to any renewable energy projects until the NSW government committed to resolve the New England regional water security deficit.<\/p>\n

EnergyCo’s WWSS showed construction would require up to 130 per cent of Armidale’s potable water capacity during peak construction if extreme drought conditions were to set in.<\/p>\n

Armidale Mayor Sam Coupland said the state government was prioritising projects over people.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Sam Coupland says the state government needs to resolve water security issues in New England. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“There’s been this really glacial pace by the government to deliver some enabling water infrastructure,” Cr Coupland said.<\/p>\n

“It’s almost as if they’re hoping the REZ will just slide through, and us, as a bunch of yokels, will wake up and wonder how the hell that happened.”<\/p>\n

The mayor said he felt as though the state government wasn’t taking the local area seriously.<\/p>\n

“This is one of those few occasions where they need us more than we need them.<\/p>\n

“They’re hosting the REZ in our region, and granted it’ll bring some significant benefits \u2026 but it could be catastrophic if the government does not front-run this enabling infrastructure,” he said.<\/p>\n

In 2022, the council designed a Water Security Package that included the restoration of Oaky River Dam, associated pipeline infrastructure, and the raising of Malpas Dam by 6.5 metres.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the council said it was preparing the planning approval process, including lodging a scoping study and undertaking an Environmental Impact Statement, and would be seeking funding from the state and federal governments.<\/p>\n

Cr Coupland said the state government needs to take the lead in providing water solutions.<\/p>\n

“We’re not blocking renewable energy, we’re saying by all means come forward, but you have to do it the right way,” he said.<\/p>\n

Less than expected<\/p>\n

In the Uralla Shire Council area, south of Armidale, peak water demands for REZ projects would increase the community’s potable water usage to 332 per cent of council’s 5ML\/d capacity.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Robert Bell says Uralla Shire Council will not give EnergyCo access to town water supplies. (Supplied: Uralla Shire Council)<\/p>\n

Mayor Robert Bell said they simply did not have the water to meet EnergyCo’s needs.<\/p>\n

“The power line construction \u2026 worker accommodation, and then the construction of the transformers, all-in-all total much more than what we produce for Uralla Shire,” he said.<\/p>\n

“At this stage we’re not allowing access to our town water for the renewable energy projects.”<\/p>\n

After a dry start to 2026, Uralla Shire Council implemented level two water restrictions before a late Autumn break eased conditions.<\/p>\n

Cr Bell said the council had a very negative view on dry conditions after a period in 2018-2022 when its main water source, Kentucky Creek Dam, dropped below 25 per cent capacity.<\/p>\n

“We use about 350ML per annum \u2026 The average quantity of the dam is supposedly 500ML, but we found probably 30 per cent of that is silt,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We thought we might have 18 months of storage; we’ve probably got less than that without input.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

A large amount of silt is expected to reduce Kentucky Creek Dam’s 500ML capacity. (Supplied: Uralla Shire Council)<\/p>\n

Cr Bell said it was ultimately up to the state government to find alternative water sources.<\/p>\n

“Uralla Shire doesn’t have the financial capacity to develop that themselves,” he said.<\/p>\n

EnergyCo exploring options<\/p>\n

EnergyCo’s WWSS explores water-saving alternatives for the REZ, including reducing the total number of projects from 114 to 37, transporting water, or constructing new infrastructure in the regions.<\/p>\n

Deputy project director Jullian Watson said their Environmental Impact Statement, expected to be released later this year, will outline strategic solutions to water issues.<\/p>\n

“The specifics will depend on what sort of solutions we can find, what other [water] sources we can find,” he said.<\/p>\n

“[Researchers] are starting to investigate the use of mine waste water; they haven’t got there yet, but that is the type of thing that we can look at and try to investigate.”\"A<\/p>\n

Julian Watson believes EnergyCo will find solutions to water needed for construction of the REZ. (ABC New England: Peter Sanders)<\/p>\n

In May, the state government announced a $60 million investment to deliver local infrastructure, services and employment opportunities as part of the New England REZ through the Community and Employment Benefit Program.<\/p>\n

Mr Watson believes solutions would be found before construction started in 2028.<\/p>\n

“We want to make sure that we can work with local government, work with communities to get a good solution that does not compromise the construction or the availability of potable water in the New England.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rural councils are refusing to provide town water for Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) projects, demanding that additional water…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[221109,8271,1047,1344,221107,1397,10939,14163,41535,41534,90,8331,56,54,55,221108,221110,1426],"class_list":["post-658610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-armidale","tag-dam","tag-drought","tag-energy","tag-energyco","tag-environment","tag-new-england","tag-renewable","tag-renewable-energy-zone","tag-rez","tag-science","tag-supply","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-uralla","tag-walcha","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}