The Rous County Council has confirmed plans to tap into groundwater on the Alstonville plateau days after Ballina Mayor Sharon Cadwallader confirmed support of a ‘water security’ project there.

As Water Week draws to a close, with a theme of 'Caring for Water and Country', a group of Widjabul Wia-bal elders have emphatically said they do not want the Dunoon Dam proposal to be put back on the table by pro-dam councillors.

A redacted copy of the 2013 Ainsworth Cultural Heritage Impact Assessment document has been made publicly available on the Rous County Council website, clarifying the extensive Widjabul-Wiabul connections with the land which would have been inundated by the Dunoon Dam.

The Dunoon Dam made an unscheduled appearance late in the last Ballina Shire Council meeting on the back of a motion put forward by Cr Phillip Meehan and seconded by Cr Sharon Cadwallader.

Since the Dunoon Dam was shelved, Rous County Council has put a new draft of the Future Water Project 2060 on public exhibition. They...

Since the Dunoon Dam was shelved, Rous County Council has put a new draft of the Future Water Project 2060 on public exhibition. They are currently seeking feedback from people living in the four constituent councils of Richmond Valley, Byron, Ballina and Lismore.

Since Rous County Council voted to abandon the Dunoon Dam as a potential solution to the future water needs of the Northern Rivers, a new group has emerged called Our Future Northern Rivers.

Yesterday's meeting of the Rous County Council saw the rescission motion go down 5:3 after another passionate debate, but Cr Sharon Cadwallader said she remained determined to keep the Dunoon Dam as an option for the future water supply of the Northern Rivers.

On the same day that it voted to write to the Prime Minister to change the date of Australia Day, Ballina Council has decided to reopen the Dunoon Dam debate, even though the project was stopped primarily on indigenous heritage grounds.

With numbers locked yesterday, the Chair of Rous County Council, Keith Williams, voted to prevent the contentious Dunoon Dam project proceeding, at a not-so ordinary Rous meeting in Lismore.