Eurobodalla Integrated Water Cycle Management Strategy

Eurobodalla Integrated Water Cycle Management Strategy
The volume of urban stormwater discharge will increase with the release and development
of new urban subdivisions. Analysis indicates that if Council continues with its current urban
stormwater management policy and practices the increase in urban stormwater quantity
and quality discharge would be in the order of 20-30% more than current levels. These
increases, if not managed adequately, will further impact on the local environment and may
pose public safety issues. The opportunities available to further enhance the quality of
stormwater discharges and to increase the potential for beneficial reuse is discussed in
part C.
6.5 Infrastructure Performance Issues
The Eurobodalla water service system faces a number of infrastructure performancerelated
issues that need to be addressed in this IWCM strategy.
6.5.1 The Regional Water Supply
Description of Existing Scheme
The regional scheme harvests run-of-river flows from the Buckenboura, Moruya and Tuross
Rivers. The water harvested from the Moruya and Tuross Rivers is fed directly into the
reticulation network after disinfection with chlorine. Excess water from the Moruya River
and water from the Buckenboura River is stored in the Deep Creek Dam off-river storage.
The dam has a capacity of 4 900 ML and maintains supply during drought conditions and
during low and turbid river flow periods. The water from each source can be transferred
along the coast from Long Beach in the north to Mystery Bay in the south.
The Buckenboura River, a tributary of the Clyde River has historically been an unreliable
water source that has failed during several periods of drought. The Buckenboura River
supply infrastructure consists of a concrete weir across the river and a pumping facility with
a single pumping capacity of 2.9 ML/d and a parallel operating capacity of 4.8 ML/d.
The Moruya River is the main source of supply to the regional scheme. Harvested run-ofriver
flows are normally supplied to the communities situated between Long Beach in the
north and Tuross Head in the south. Despite no surface flows during the droughts of the
1980s and 1990s, limited extraction was feasible to maintain emergency supply. The
Moruya River supply infrastructure consists of a low and high head pumping facility with a
transfer capacity of about 16.4 ML/d.
The Tuross River is the main source of supply to the southern section of the regional
scheme from Bodalla to Mystery Bay. Despite no surface flows during the droughts of the
1980s and 1990s, limited extraction was feasible to maintain emergency supply. The
Tuross River supply infrastructure consists of a low and high head pumping facility with a
transfer capacity of about 6.7 ML/d.
The Quality of the Source Waters
Council routinely monitors the water quality of the supply sources and the distributed water
at strategic locations. This routine monitoring is carried out in accordance with the NSW
Health quality assurance requirements under the Public Health Act 1991, to monitor long
term trends and for operational and emergency response management.
In 1997 Council undertook a comprehensive water quality monitoring program over a
twelve-month period. The aims of this study were to:
Better understand the seasonal variation of the water quality from the various
sources
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