Wingham still relying on temporary water solution after Mid North Coast floods

Australia Broadcast Center

11 hours ago

In the wake of record-breaking floods on the New South Wales Mid North Coast, a community is still relying on a vulnerable temporary water supply after a major pipeline was destroyed at the height of the disaster.
The force of the floodwater in late May tore through the pipeline that supplies water to Wingham, connecting its reservoirs with the region's Bootawa water supply dam near Taree.
MidCoast Council director of infrastructure and engineering services Rob Scott said the pipe broke where it crossed the deepest part of the Manning River.
"Some of that riverbank lost 20 metres or more of earth. That left one of our water mains almost completely unsupported on that southern side," he said.
Mr Scott said the council had created a temporary solution, using an alternative pipeline to pump water from a reservoir near Taree to Wingham's reservoir.
He said a permanent fix was urgently needed because there was no other backup system.
He said if the backup pipeline broke the water supply to residents in Wingham, Taree and towns to the north, including Harrington and Coopernook, would be "significantly impacted" due to their connected system of reservoirs.
"We don't know how long it would take to repair … and from then on, whatever is left in the reservoirs is all that we would have," Mr Scott said.
"Within a day the high areas would start to have low water pressure … by the end of the second and third days some people would be without water, and that would progressively spread as the reservoirs depleted.
"For example … Wingham's reservoir has about 10 megalitres at any point in time, and the daily use is 2 megalitres."
Mr Scott said it took days for council crews to secure the temporary solution and in the meantime, emergency measures were taken to support residents.
"During that time we used water carting and water bottles being delivered … water was also carted to Wingham Hospital," he said.
Wingham resident Colleen Williams said her water was cut off for four days.
"There were access points where we could drive into town … and collect bottled water," she said.
"There were a few times where we did have to go to the Tigers [Rugby League Club] and boil the water for basin baths."
The MidCoast Council has resolved to spend $4.1 million to urgently replace the damaged section of pipeline.
Councillors supported a recommendation to fast-track the project, with the goal of completing it in six months.
Mr Scott said the new infrastructure would be more secure during floods.
"The existing pipeline was built in the 1960s and trenched into the bottom of the Manning River," he said.
"New technology means we can literally drill a hole through the rock below the riverbed … by doing that we can avoid the risk of the pipeline being damaged by flood debris or impacted by riverbank erosion.
Engineers Australia College of Environmental Engineering chair Kala Senathirajah said there was a considerable amount of aging water infrastructure across the country.
"A lot the assets have been put in post World War II and are now quite old," she said.
"It's getting to a stage where there needs to be a lot of assets renewed or replaced at the same time and due to funding and resource constraints, we will need to stagger that.
"When we have floods or other natural disasters, they [the aging water infrastructure] are more vulnerable … to the situation that has happened at Wingham."
Mr Scott said other councils with aging water infrastructure should be aware of the possible issues.
"There's been several similar cases to ours over the years, where [pipe] river crossings have been lost during flood events, and then the council or water authority is faced with the expensive prospect of having to rush a project through to replace it," he said.
"The problem is it's also high cost, so it's whether you can really balance risk with costs."