Orange could run dry every eight years - how does the city save water in a hotter, drier climate?

Cr Peterson has long been vocal on the subject of water management including during the most recent council election in 2021.

He told the Daily more needed to be done to capture and supply water as Orange's population grows in addition to climate change projections.

"Orange is projected to have a population of 60,000 within 20 years," he explained.

"We're going to need increased water supply for that alone, not accounting for any impacts of a drier climate

"Certainly the water issue is a big one. People have memories, yes it's raining at the moment and the dams are full but plenty of people in town are well aware that it's a cycle, these things will change."

Cr Peterson said council was briefed in late 2022 about a "worst case scenario" where Orange would enter severe water restrictions every eight years.

This was based on the NSW Department of Planning and Environment's 2022 Macquarie-Castlereagh Regional Water Strategy draft which pointed to one in seven years requiring restrictions.

As recent as 2020 Suma Park Dam was down to 23 per cent with a date of May 1 in the same year locked in for when unprecedented level six water restrictions were to come into affect. At the time it was dubbed "day zero".

"Council had a briefing towards the end of last year where it was suggested in a worse case scenario of what climate and rainfall might look like, Orange would probably run out of water once every eight years," he revealed.

"We are going to need more infrastructure and that will never actually be finished because if the population keeps going we'll need more infrastructure.

"That's one of council's responsibilities to keep pushing to make sure that change in federal and state governments doesn't mean that infrastructure beyond the Blue Mountains is forgotten about."

Charles Sturt University professor Andrew Hall works as part of the water-focused Gulbali Institute and is involved with the One Basin CRC, a project looking at irrigation and climate resilience.

He told the Daily preparing for longer, drier periods in inland areas like the Central West was front of mind for planners.

Climate change is predicted to result in an average warming of 0.7 degrees in the Central West and Orana region by 2039, a government report shows.

"The main thing we are looking at is we are getting more variability in climate," he said.

"So climate drivers like El Nino are having more of an effect than they used to. We can expect that effect to increase.

"We are looking at alternate sources of water, making sure water is available for longer periods, taking into consideration that we can expect to see those longer, drier periods and how to make sure water is available for as long as possible to sustain communities that live in inland NSW."

Professor Hall said while climate change posed plenty of challenges, there were things that can be done now to better prepare.

"There is plenty of scope for us to be able to adapt to a more variable climate," he explained.

"Being a first world country, we certainly have the resources to be able to put in infrastructure to be more resilient to climate change. Stormwater harvesting is an excellent strategy.

"I don't think we need to worry too much about it so long as we are prepared for it. Just ignoring it isn't going to work."

Cr Peterson said schemes like stormwater harvesting were a good start but council had to keep pushing for action.

"I think things like the Blackmans Swamp storage and water recycling are good things but the task will never be complete particularly as those things rely on rainfall," he said.

"Stormwater harvesting is marvelous but in the middle of a drought you're not going to get too much stormwater.

"The specifics of that are best made by water engineering experts. I would think that Lake Rowland's expansion would be a good option to consider given the dam is already there so hopefully that will minimise some of the environmental concerns some people would have with a new dam.

"Water would be able to to be pumped down to us which is a lot cheaper than pumping uphill from somewhere like Dixons Long Point.

"What council and other governments can do is make sure it's a priority on the radar of people who make the decisions and that funding is available."

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