It sounds absurd to suggest that water would need to be pumped from the water treatment plant in Orange to customers in Blayney, and the general manager of Central Tablelands Water Gavin Rhodes is only too aware of the irony of it.

"The tables have certainly turned and it looks like we'll have to call on Orange first to help us out," he said.

So unexpected is the situation that an agreement between the two treatment plants needs to be drawn up before any water can be transferred either way.

"We're working with Orange on the draft water supply agreement to identify what constitutes an emergency taking into consideration critical human needs to supply water to either Orange or Blayney," Mr Rhodes said.

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Summer Hill Creek in Orange is flowing into Suma Park Dam for first time since 2018, add to that water from the Macquarie pipeline and the stormwater harvesting system and Orange's previously dire situation seems rosy compared to that of Lake Rowlands which is stable at 35 per cent.

Blayney councillor and the chairman of CTW David Somervaille said that not only is CTW looking at Orange as a source of water, but they're also working with Cowra Council to develop a solution.

CTW provides rural water to consumers near Woodstock and Goolagong, and in that agreement there was always an option there for CTW to get water back from Cowra according to Cr Somervaille.

"At the moment it's easy to get water there as it's all downhill, but to get water back here they would need to put in a pump station in Woodstock," Cr Somervaille said.

"That measure is purely for an emergency supply and we've been working on costings for a temporary pumping solution."

In the meantime Mr Rhodes is hoping for one simple solution. "We need the storms to stop going around the catchment," he said.