LISTENING TO PATERSON, DUNGOG COMMUNITIES ABOUT LOSTOCK DAM PIPELINE PLAN

The Australian Government is investing $11.1 million in a comprehensive Business Case to ensure a water pipeline between Lostock Dam and Glennies Creek Dam delivers benefits for all stakeholders, including the Dungog community.

Federal Member for Lyne Dr David Gillespie visited Lostock Dam on Monday to hear about the pipeline project and its timeline.

Dr Gillespie said the project was a substantial investment to deliver water security for the region.

“At times when Lostock is close to capacity, the plan is to move water from that smaller dam and bank it in Glennies Creek Dam, which has a larger storage capacity but less catchment,” Dr Gillespie said.

“This will deliver water security for the Upper Hunter, but it’s also planned to use the pipeline to bring water back to the Paterson River when needed.

“The Business Case will be modelling scenarios about water sharing and approaches to managing salinity in the estuary. It’s going to be a substantial piece of work and it’s important to get it right.

“The growing population of the Greater Hunter region will eventually mean more storage is required. As a sensible stepping stone, we are using a small reservoir with a great catchment to move water into a bigger reservoir.

“It’s important that Dungog LGA does not miss out on benefits from a project this size and I’m listening closely to the local communities on this.”

Caption: Visiting Lostock Dam on Monday were (from left) Mark Simons (NSW DPIE Director Regional Water Strategies), Dungog Shire Cr Digby Rayward, Federal Member for Lyne Dr David Gillespie and Dungog Mayor John Connors