Water Outages and Low Pressure

Dear Residents,

Feedback has been received from customers connected to the rural water supply line, about intermittent water losses during off-peak times. Council would like to clarify the cause of these outages and provide an update on how we are working to resolve these issues.

During the February 2022 natural disaster, approximately 4km of main water pipeline along Gungas Road was destroyed. This water main was used to take water from the Mulgum Creek weir to the D.E. Williams Dam, which supplies the village of Nimbin with water. When the pipe was destroyed, our rural customers lost their water supply, and supply to D.E. Williams Dam was severely impacted.

To quicken constructability and respond to the urgency of the situation, Council made the difficult decision to temporarily replace the old water main with a readily available smaller diameter pipe. Our Water and Wastewater team worked tirelessly with the ADF to install the 4kms of pipe, which was operational within 6 weeks of the flood.

As the new pipe is smaller than the old pipe, water flow is limited. Similar to how too many cars on one road can slow traffic and cause a traffic jam, forcing too much water through a pipe can cause the pressure to drop, leading to outages. To keep the village of Nimbin supplied with water, the dam’s inlet valve must occasionally be fully opened. As this lets a large amount of water through the pipeline in a very short period of time, temporary pressure loss and outages may occur.

To minimise the inconvenience for our rural customers, we limit this dam filling process to between 10 pm and 5 am. Due to the size of the dam, filling is quite a slow process, and can last for several weeks at a time. During this time, rural customers may be more prone to off-peak water outages. In the unlikely event that water outages occur outside of these hours, rest assured that Council is aware and working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

The immediate works which were put in place as a temporary measure to quicken constructability and secure water supply post flood event, are now being replaced with a permanent solution, that being 200mm diameter pipe to ensure hydraulic capacity is maintained. For more information and updates on this project, please visit Your Say – Nimbin Water Supply, Pipeline Replacement Project: https://yoursay.lismore.nsw.gov.au/nimbin-water-supply

In addition, water potability announcements, ongoing water supply updates and information will be shared on the Your Say – Nimbin Water Security page: https://yoursay.lismore.nsw.gov.au/nimbin-water-security

Should you have any further concerns or questions regarding your water supply, please call the Customer Contact Centre on 6625 0500 or email council@lismore.nsw.gov.au

To receive email updates on your water supply, please follow the below link.

https://lismore-water-operations-public-domain.app.oneblink.io/forms/9621

Thank you for your understanding and patience during these trying times.