Hay Shire Council resolves to trade surplus water

By Tertia Butcher

Future surplus water will be traded by Hay Shire Council with revenue to be returned to Council’s Water fund for further water projects.

A Sale (Trade) of Water policy was unanimously adopted by Council at its recent monthly meeting in a bid to generate additional revenue for the Water Fund as well as improve the efficiency of water usage.

General Manager, David Webb said as a local water utility, Council was permitted to engage in temporary trade of town water allocation with Ministerial approval.

“In addition, Council is permitted to supply water beyond its area of operations, provided it does not impact on the supply to users in the Shire,” Mr Webb said.

“Council has in the past traded some of its town water supply when opportunity presented, and each year generally trades some of its Private Irrigation District allocation to other users within the PID.

“This will be a temporary trade and only when we have access water.

“The revenue must be returned to council’s Water Fund.”

Council holds the following water entitlements: Hay Town Water Supply 2805 ML (High Security), Booligal Surface Water 10ML (General Security), Booligal Groundwater 2ML (General Security) and PID general supply 260ML (General Security).

Council said analysis indicates that water usage will not exceed 1400 ML in a dry year and 1150 ML in a wet year.

Further water savings are being achieved with a trial of Taggle digital meters on Council properties.

Mr Webb said the meters have been in operation for 12 months and have proven to be quite successful.

Analysis of data has shown four significant water leakages were identified and rectified across Shire properties.

Notably, one leak at the water mains, with a flow rate of 674.9 KL per hour, was swiftly addressed, mitigating substantial water loss.

“In total, it is estimated we have saved in excess of 288 KL of water by the use of digital meters in the past three months,” Mr Webb said.

“Council has recently completed the installation of new digital bulk water meters to the main supply points which were externally funded and is in the process of installing date loggers (pressure sensors) across the supply network as an additional form of water loss detection.

“It is too early to ascertain the full advantages of these initiatives.

“Council’s Integrated Water Cycle Management Plan highlighted we have 30 to 35 per cent nonrevenue water, which is water taken however lost through leakages, broken meters and other losses.

“This could be attributed to the ageing meter fleet, with the average age of the meters being around 25 years, which is roughly 10 years beyond their expected lifespan.

“Consequently, we suspect these older meters were under-recording consumption, resulting in readings that significantly favoured the customers.

“A loss rate of 10 per cent would be considered acceptable.

“A 20 per cent reduction in water losses equates to approximately 200ML of water saved during an average year.

“It is anticipated that on top of the water saved the additional revenue generated from the digital meters is estimated at $86,000 per annum, plus there would be expected savings in meter reading of $32,000 per annum.”

Council also resolved to submit a grant application under the Resilient Rivers Water Infrastructure Program for the full roll-out of digital meters to all users in the Hay town water supply network.