Debates on the future of Mullumbimby’s water supply took a new twist at Council’s meeting on 18 June.
The latest consultant’s report clearly shows that Lavertys Gap Weir can supply Mullum’s water demand at least 85 per cent of the time, accounting for both droughts and floods, and for future climate change.
Indeed, study of Wilsons Creek flow at the weir demonstrates that, over the past ten years, there was adequate water on 98 per cent of days, and since October 2021, there have been no days with a creek flow less than Mullum’s demand.
A majority of councillors therefore voted for a further investigation (of costs and environmental and social impacts) into the ‘hybrid’ scheme in which the whole of Mullum would be supplied by Lavertys Gap Weir, reliably, for 85 per cent of the time.
A new replacement water treatment plant would be needed, close to the weir, to feed the town by gravity.
Whenever this supply is inadequate, it would be supplemented by the new emergency pipeline from Rous, which was completed last year.
The debate about Mullum’s water has ebbed and flowed over the past six years. This latest step suggests another welcome way forward in which the local, 100-year-old source can continue to make a major, cost-effective contribution to Byron Shire’s water needs, possibly for another century.
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