Mayoral candidate, Cr Asren Pugh (Labor), says he supports current mayor Michael Lyon and Council staff’s position around the future of Mullum’s water supply.
The Echo asked if he supports the mayor’s claims that ‘preliminary investigations’ were adequate in regards to decommissioning the local water supply, and that Rous County should instead manage it? Cr Pugh replied with similar rhetoric to Cr Lyon and Council staff.
‘Keeping Lavertys Gap running would require the building of a brand-new dam in either Wilsons Creek valley or on the Mullumbimby floodplain, as well as a brand new water treatment plant. This new infrastructure would cost an estimated $36 million, which staff has estimated would increase the cost of water to every single household in Mullumbimby by $1,000 per year’.
‘We are in the middle of a cost of living crisis and an extra $1,000 per year to every household cannot be justified. ‘We have been discussing this issue for two years, have had two workshops, quality reports and endless discussion at the Water and Sewer Advisory committee.
‘We have all the information we need to make an informed decision on this’.
The Echo has previously published unanswered questions that Water and Sewer Advisory committee members (whom have water engineering expertise) have asked of staff and consultants.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
