Why Amamoor, Kandanga water supply has had unexpected boost

The residents of two Mary Valley towns have received an unexpected helping hand from the past year’s rain

Gympie Regional Council infrastructure services director Graham O'Byrne says the past years' wet weather has eased the strain on water supply worries in the Mary Valley at Kandanga (pictured) and Amamoor.

The past year’s wet – and at times torrential – weather may have wreaked havoc across the region, but it has given at least one of the region’s clouds a silver lining.

Kandanga and Amamoor’s stretched water supplies have been given a much-needed boost on the back of the past 18 months’ rainfall, greatly reducing the chance of the latter being put back on extreme water restrictions.

The state government’s new online urban water explorer shows that, in mid-2021, there was “low confidence” the two Mary Valley towns would be able to meet their water supply demands across the next 18 months.

Amamoor’s prognosis was the more dire, with about four-to-six months of supply from Amamoor Creek left at the time.

Kandanga had seven months’ supply left at Kandanga Creek.

In late 2020, Gympie Regional Council was forced to truck water into Amamoor due to ongoing dry conditions, and residents were placed under level five water restrictions. Rainfall in the past 18 months means the risk of the problem recurring any time soon has diminished significantly.

They were the only two areas across the Gympie region in this situation; each pulled their supply from the Amamoor and Kandanga Creeks, respectively.

There was mild concern about the long term ability for water supplies in the region’s west, at Kilkivan and Goomeri, to meet demand.

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The long term future of Amamoor’s water supply has been under scrutiny in recent years.

In 2020, Gympie Regional Council was forced to truck water into the township after an extended run of dry weather.

Level five water restrictions were enforced at the time.

Council infrastructure services director Graham O’Byrne said the situation was on the upswing.

Latest KPI figures showed the towns’ long term supply levels now sitting on par with those out west, he said.

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Kandanga (pictured) and Amamoor water is taken from nearby creeks, which are heavily reliant on ongoing wet weather to ensure the towns’ residents have continued supply. Photo Lachie Millard Words Peter Hall

This had the added bonus of staving off tighter water restrictions.

The townships usually sit at level three water restrictions, which bans the watering the grass or filling pools, although topping pools up between 4pm-5pm was allowed.

“There is no current need to be changing the water restrictions for the two towns from their current level three restrictions,” Mr O’Byrne said.

“This will continue to be monitored as council has done previously, and if restrictions need to change these will be implemented.”

“The current contingency measures for dry periods are increased water restrictions, with back-up tankering supply from Gympie, as has occurred in previous events.”