Federal Member for Riverina Michael McCormack (left) was in Parkes on Monday for the announcement of the grant. He was joined by (L-R) Parkes Shire Mayor Ken Keith, Northparkes Mines Managing Director Hubert Lehman and Kent Boyd, Anna Wylie and Andrew Francis from the Parkes Shire Council.
The Parkes Shire Council will receive $6 million in funding to not only double the town’s water supply but also guarantee water security for many years to come.
The grant from the Building Better Regions Fund (BBRF) will go towards Stage 1 of the Lachlan River Water Supply Duplication Project.
Collectively, the package of water security projects valued at approximately $61 million, will create a new raw water supply network that will almost double Council’s capacity to meet future demand for more raw water. Currently, Council can only supply 6ML of its 12GL water licence entitlement, largely due to the constraints of ageing water infrastructure. Council also conveys water for Northparkes Mines who owns their own water licences and is dependent on access to a secure and sustainable raw water supply.
The Parkes water security projects include construction and replacement of raw water infrastructure and assets. In total more than 39 kilometres of new pipeline will move water around the supply network more efficiently based on new and improved pump stations and pre-treatment plants at Eugowra Road and Akuna Road, additional storage capacity of 20ML in the raw water dam, additional bores to sustainably spread the load on the Lachlan aquifer and a direct pipeline route to the water treatment plant.
After treatment, new pipelines will distribute the treated raw water to the benefit of residents and businesses in the shire. In addition, Parkes is collaborating with neighbouring Shires to create a new CENTROC regional water grid.
This new raw water supply network will be powered sustainably by solar energy to reduce electricity from the grid and limit CO2 emissions, as part of Council’s commitment to introduce renewable energy to support and sustain our environment.
The construction process is expected to create between 60 to 80 jobs.,