Bush residents shower in sewage-smelling water as rivers run dry

Showers that stink like sewage and sting people’s skin have become part of life in country towns across NSW, where fresh water is fast running out. Households and businesses are also forced to drink bottled water because what’s coming out of the tap takes “like shit”. INTERACTIVE: THE IMPACT

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Shindy’s Inn barmaid Jasmin Kew has developed itchy rashes on her body from showering at her Louth home in water that “smells like rotten eggs”.

Hundreds of kilometres away in the town of Murrurundi, Jules Cross can’t shower for more than two minutes before his skin stings from the chlorine added to the water that is trucked into town.

And over in Wilcannia, motel owner Deidre Sammon is brutally honest with her advice — bring bottled water with you because the water out of the tap looks clear but tastes “literally like sh*t”.

Welcome to life in our state’s parched country towns where water is running out fast. Entire communities are feeling the impact and relying solely on emergency water deliveries, as bores and rivers stop flowing after the driest two-year spell since records began in 1900.

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In Louth, west of Bourke, Jasmin Kew’s filtered shower water is drawn from a stagnant pool on the Darling River, which stopped flowing four months ago.

The water is contaminated with blue-green algae at levels considered “toxic to humans and animals” by the government. “I feel dirtier when I get out of the shower than when I get in, even though I shower as quickly as possible to avoid the disgusting stench,” Ms Kew said.

“As soon as I get out of the shower I start scratching my arms.”

It’s the same story in Murrurundi, between Musswelbrook and Tamworth, where publican Jules Cross ends up in pain every time he has a shower and shivers at the thought of drinking the tap water. “It hurts to shower and you might drink it if you lived in a third world country, but I certainly won’t,” Mr Cross said.

Some schools in the state’s west have even been fitted with water coolers for kids who turn their noses up at foul-tasting bubblers.

Louth local Jasmin Kew shows the difference between Sydney tap water and the tap water in Louth NSW. Picture Jenny Evans

The state government will also provide bottled water for pregnant women and patients with ongoing illnesses in Walgett, Lightning Ridge, White Cliffs and Wilcannia.

At Wilcannia, in the state’s far west, where more than 500 people live, there’s only 48 days of water left in the Darling River, which is used for evaporative airconditioning, flushing toilets and fighting fires.

The NSW Rural Fire Service will tomorrow host a crisis meeting in Wilcannia to figure out how the local brigade will extinguish house fires if the hydrants run dry.

The water out of the Darling River is so dirty in Wilcannia, air conditioners and washing machines are clogging up and breaking down.

Shamrock Hotel in Balranald is only serving bottled water to patrons. Picture: Supplied

Fresh drinking water storages ran out last November and the local treatment plant now filters water from two bores, which “tastes like shit”, according to Wilcannia Motel owner and tourism operator Deidre Sammon. Anyone staying at the Wilcannia Motel is encouraged to bring bottled water with them.

“The water out of the tap looks clear but it just tastes horrible — literally like shit,” Mrs Sammon said. “It’s disgusting and depressing. It’s not good for anyone’s state of mind.”

A road train runs treated water to residents on the outskirts of Wilcannia every day, while at nearby White Cliffs there’s 78 days of water left for the town. If it runs out, residents will rely on a daily delivery by road train from three hours’ drive away in Broken Hill. The entire state is gripped by drought, with the severity ranging from “intense drought” (32.4%) to “drought” (49%), “drought affected” (18.5%) and “recovering” (0.1%).

Some residents in Comabra haven’t had water for more than two years. Picture: Jillian Butler

The drought has turned once lush paddocks to dirt. Picture: Jillian Butler

The past year has been the driest on record across huge swathes of farming land in the north and far west of the state, which was made worse by the 10th driest summer ever in NSW. In Walgett, residents can have a three-minute shower once a day or a 10cm-deep bath. They can only put two loads of washing on each week, and even kiddy pools have been banned.

Even so, the state’s new Town Water Supply coordinator James McTavish says the situation has become critical for many. He has spent the past three weeks sourcing information from government agencies and people on the ground to find a solution to drinking water shortages.

“Nowhere in NSW where there’s a town water supply is the water unsafe to drink, although it may not be palatable or it smells funny or feels slimy to the touch,” he said.

“For a lot of places this has been creeping for a long time and now reached a critical stage. We’re playing catch-up with this, which is a problem and in some areas where there’s been less focus the circumstances are more dire. But this is all fixable, it just requires the right engineering and logistics solutions.”