Level 1 water restrictions to lift this week as Shannon Creek Dam fills

Following river quality issues, Shannon Creek Dam begins to return to full capacity.

Aerial image of Shannon Creek Dam.

Level one water restrictions will end shortly as the Shannon Creek Dam is filling to capacity.

Greg Mashiah, Manager for Water Cycle at Clarence Valley Council said, that as Shannon Creek Dam is the major drinking water storage facility for our Regional Water Supply Scheme, the focus was now to get the dam to 100 per cent full as quickly as possible while river conditions allow.”

“Frequent heavy rainfall events in the Nymboida catchment throughout the summer continued to cause issues with river water quality and delayed the refilling of Shannon Creek Dam,” he said.

“We also experienced issues with extraction infrastructure which further limited the amount of clean water which could be taken from the Nymboida River to replenish water levels in the dam.

“The river extraction infrastructure is now fixed, environmental releases are completed, and river water quality issues have eased. Recently we have been able to increase extraction from the Nymboida River into Shannon Creek Dam to around 50 megalitres/day (ML/d), building storage capacity to around 84 per cent.”

Mr Mashiah said the smaller Karangi Dam (situated near Coffs Harbour) was now at around 9 per cent% capacity.

“Karangi Dam contributes water storage to our Regional Water Supply Scheme, and the combined water storage of both Karangi and Shannon Creek Dam is considered when introducing or lifting water restrictions,” he said.

Despite heavy rainfall and flooding across the region, Clarence Valley and the Coffs Coast have remained on level 1 restrictions. These water conservation measures will be lifted from Wednesday June 16 when Permanent Water Conservation is reinstated.

Permanent Water Conservation Measures were introduced to the Clarence Valley in 2007 and permit handheld hoses for watering gardens and lawns at any time. Sprinklers can be used but are banned between 9am and 4pm.

Clarence Valley Council currently has their latest draft Water Restriction policy on exhibition and open for public comment until June 25.