The Curlewis Pipeline Project is now a reality after the federal government announced funding for the multi-million dollar project.
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On Wednesday, Member for Parkes Mark Coulton visited Curlewis to announce Gunnedah Shire’s Council had been successful in their bid for $2.6 million for the project.
The money has been allocated in the latest round of the Building Better Regions Fund and will finance the construction of a 15.8-kilometre pipeline from the Gunnedah town supply.
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The project is the result of an ongoing push to fix issues with the Curlewis water supply, which stem back as far back as 2011 when consultants GHD provided a water security assessment.
GHD identified key risks, including future capacity shortfalls, the reliability of current infrastructure, supply security relying on a single groundwater supply and climate change.
Out of the four successful projects in his electorate, Mr Coulton said the pipeline project was the biggest and an “exciting” step forward.
“The reason I’m supporting it is I think it has the potential to promote the economic growth of the region,” he said.
“With a better water supply, there’s potential for Curlewis to grow, but also the potential for intensive industries to use the water around Curlewis, like agriculture.
“This is also good news for Curlewis because they’ll have water that’s good quality and it’s not at the moment.”
Mr Coulton said an improvement in the water supply might also encourage more people to move to the small town.
“I think the potential there is quite positive,” he said.
