The Gloucester water supply is drawn from the Barrington River in a system MidCoast Council calls a “run of the river” scheme – with no weir or off-river storage.

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When the river stopped flowing after four years of low rainfall, a steady stream of tankers was needed to deliver water to the local Water Treatment Plant.

After the drought broke, the Council started exploring what steps might be taken to provide water security for Gloucester and Barrington.

“MidCoast is challenged by a growing population and the impacts of climate change, increasing our vulnerability to the impacts of drought,” a Council spokesperson said.

“The Gloucester off-stream storage project was identified as the preferred water security solution for the Gloucester and Barrington community in the Our Water Our Future 2050 strategy.”

The strategy was adopted unanimously by the Council in August 2023.

At the time, the Director of Infrastructure and Engineering Services Rob Scott, said “the adoption of Our Water Our Future 2050 marks the culmination of more than two years of planning, consultation and development.

“The strategy outlines the key actions we’ll undertake to deal with the impacts of climate change and population growth going forward, such as building new off-stream storage dams to increase our water security.”

As part of the strategy, the Council has been looking for a site near Gloucester to build an off-river dam to store water which will be pumped via a pipeline from the Barrington River.

Water can then be directed to the treatment plant as needed.

“We currently have three suitable sites shortlisted,” the spokesperson said.

“Sites were identified by revisiting investigations completed in 2014-2016, as well as looking at other possible locations.

“A Multi Criterion Analysis (MCA) was completed on many sites, with involvement from key Council stakeholders and dam consultants and the outcome from the MCA is the agreed short-list.”

According to the Council, the next step is to choose the preferred site based upon geotechnical investigations, which were completed in late October 2024.

Those samples are currently being analysed with results expected shortly.

The likely size and capacity of the reservoir will depend upon which site is finally chosen.

Once identified, a concept design will be prepared.

It will be necessary for the Council to purchase the dam site and the pipeline routes, and preliminary discussions with landowners have begun.

Construction is scheduled for 2032-2033.

By John WATTS