MUCH of the water being used in the mammoth firefight to control blazes burning near Tamworth and across the Northern Tablelands is being sourced from recycled water plants.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The Rural Fire Service (RFS) is working with local councils to source whatever water it can, without draining the water supplies of drought-ravaged towns like Tamworth, Glen Innes and Armidale.
The crippling drought and lack of water is another factor in the exhaustive battle to save homes, lives and animals from out-of-control blazes. The big dry has taken much of what's left in farm dams, rivers and creeks, so the new weapon is treated sewage or recycled water.
The RFS is avoiding water sources such as Chaffey and Malpas dams, instead using private dams - which can be replenished by the government for stock to drink - or streams and wastewater options.
READ MORE:
- Man arrested as out-of-control bushfire threatens homes
- No reprieve from winds for exhausted crews in Moonbi fire
- Firefighters battle air thick with frustration over arson attack
- Trapped by flames, firefighters dig in to save homes in Moonbi fire
- The humble team of volunteers at Moonbi who quietly feed the firies
- Defence force drops off interstate crews as firefight continues
More than one million hectares have been scorched by the deadly and devastating fires across the New England, and up and down the coast. And it's only a few months into the bushfire season, and not even summer.
Firefighters are using retardant where they can to surround homes from the flames, and water is used as the flame attacker.
In Tamworth, a 100,000-litre water tank - owned by the RFS and based at the airport - has been tapped into for the first time in more than 12 months.
It's been used to fill up water bombers that have been attacking the Moonbi fire, which has burned through more than 5000 hectares.
"We've been investigating, with the help of council, using recycled water from the treatment works at the airbase for water bombing," Tamworth RFS Superintendent Allyn Purkiss said.
"We're not pulling out of dams where there is stock there; if we are pulling out of dams, it's with the approval of owners."
Superintendent Purkiss said they had tried to limit water use and aircraft had dropped more than 26,000 litres of fire retardant on the Moonbi fire.
"That was how much was in the tank, and they were picking it up in 3000L lots at a time. They used that to put around the tower up at Blackjack to save it, and around properties," he said.
Tamworth council's water and waste operations manager, Dan Coe, confirmed no water had been drawn from Chaffey or Dungowan dams.
The council has a recycled water scheme at AELEC with backwash water from the Calala treatment works, or the reuse farm near the airport, ready in case of a fire emergency.
"We work closely with the RFS for what they need and, in an emergency situation, whatever water supply that can meet their demands, in terms of the location of the fire," Mr Coe said.
He said town water supplies could be used to help stop the spread of a fire, or to extinguish it, if it threatened homes, like in previous fires near Nundle.
The RFS is working with Armidale council to establish a bore near the Armidale airport. It would supply the aircraft, used in firefighting efforts, based at New England Aviation Airbase.
Northern Tablelands MP and Minister for Agriculture, Adam Marshall, said emergency services were doing everything they could to obtain water from streams and public water supplies, not private dams or town supplies.
"Glen Innes has been providing water from its sewerage treatment plant for the fires," he said.
"That has been an enormous help, and that has been going for some time, because they have been able to provide so much.
"It doesn't matter that it is treated sewage water; as long as it is dousing the flames, it's a good thing because it's saving properties and lives."
He said the RFS took for firefighting would be replaced by the Department of Primary Industries (DPI), which would assess what was taken and what was replaced for stock.
"Well over 100 landholders in our region near Glen Innes and Walcha have been in contact with the department to pick up hay and water, and I expect that number to grow once the word gets out," he said.
He said the water to replace firefighting efforts would not be drawn from the drought-ravaged New England.
"We're not robbing Peter to pay Paul," Mr Marshall said.
"Our emergency water, we're getting that sourced from the coast or down towards Sydney and trucking it up."
Breanna Chillingworth
Northern Daily Leader Senior Crime and Court Reporter
Northern Daily Leader Senior Crime and Court Reporter
