WATER last flowed along the Castlereagh River in late November 2016 but few would have thought that over two years later, dozens of households along its banks would be completely out of water.
For as long as local residents can remember, the Castlereagh has managed to yield domestic and stock water throughout even the longest of dry times from the many spear-points buried in the sand from Gilgandra to properties north of Coonamble township.
Many of these homes rely entirely on the river water to supplement captured rainwater and some now find they have run out of both.
Last Thursday 7 February, residents from Combara village and surrounding areas came together to discuss the situation.
Fifteen people attended the meeting at short notice, galvanised by interest in their plight from a television station who responded to comments on social media from Keith Ryan who rents a house in the village.
“We just need to start working out a way to get a secure water supply for the village and for other people who live along the river,” Mr Ryan said.
“There’s a lot more people affected than you think and it’s getting worse.”
The meeting was chaired by local grazier Mark Regan.
“A lot of attention is being given to the Barwon Darling system but no-one is talking about the Castlereagh,” he said. “You just can’t function without water.”
Families who have lived on the river for generations, such as the Crockers and Plains, say they believe the river has provided water for at least a hundred years.
“In 1965 it was pretty dry,” said Gary Zell. “But I’ve never known the river to run right out.”
Previous efforts to gain the attention of government have so far yielded little certainty.
“It was getting bad in 2015,” said Don Schieb who lives on the Castlereagh south of Coonamble.
“At that time there were 87 spear points between Coonamble and Gilgandra,” Mr Schieb said.
“By the time it rained in May 2016 it had been 34 months since the river had run, this time it’s been 26 months and almost everyone is out of water.”
While some have adjusted their pumps and spear-points and been able to continue using riverwater, others who rely on the river have been out of water for more than twelve months.
Friendly neighbours have allowed access to an artesian bore, while other residents have been buying town water and paying to have it delivered in bulk to their homes.
“We’re very fortunate because people tend to look after each other,” Carmel Readford said.
People were also pleased when Council decided not to charge for water taken from the town stand-pipe from December 2018.
Village resident Bob Ellis says he has had water carted to his house ten times in the past two years.
“I have four spears in the river and none of them are providing any water,” Mr Ellis said.
“The old wind-pump well near the old Combara Railway Station is also bone dry.”
The local view is that the well-stream is also fed by water from the Castlereagh, however the workings of the river and how flows continue through sand up to 6 metres deep for years after the surface flow has stopped is a mystery to most.
It is not unusual for one spear to be barely pumping while a spear just metres away, in a ‘different stream’, can continue to supply a satisfactory volume of water.
Spear owners can often re-position their spears or drop them lower into the sand to obtain water.
“A neighbour put a new spear down this week,” said Keith Ryan. “It is 19 feet (almost 6 metres) from the top of the sand, right on the clay bed.”
Although she could not attend the meeting, Jenny Murray says her home in the Combara village has never been out of water.
“I’ve been here nearly 70 years and we’ve never really run out,” Mrs Murray said. “We’re still able to get water now.”
“But times are changing and there are more people using more water, and this river will probably not continue to accommodate everyone.”
“We probably will need to look at ways to sustain the water,” she said.
Deputy Mayor Paul Wheelhouse attended the meeting on Friday to listen to the residents’ concerns.
He encouraged them to attend the Council meeting today (Wednesday 13 February) to discuss any ideas they might have to address the problem.
“In no way was this meeting an attack on Council,” said Mr Ryan. “Other levels of government will need to help. Everyone else is getting attention and we need to address that.”
Flows on the Castlereagh River, like other unregulated rivers, are monitored by gauges at key points along the river.
“Currently, there are minimal to zero flows into the Castlereagh River,” said a spokesman for WaterNSW, the organisation that licenses river extraction points.
“NSW is in the grips of one of the worst drought sequences on record and these prolonged dry conditions with little rain is affecting river systems throughout the state, including the Castlereagh River resulting in low water levels.”
Regardless of the cause, the key question to be discussed at today’s Council meeting is what can be done during this and future droughts for the people who have come to rely on the river.
