The Clarence Valley water supply, which is currently chlorinated and has lime added to reduce its acidity, will be filtered within the next 10 years at a current estimated cost of $83 million as part of the second stage of a planned upgrade.

But filtration won’t significantly improve the water that comes out of the tap in the Lower Clarence said Council’s Greg Mashiah at a public meeting at Yamba’s Wooli Street Hall, convened by the Yamba Community Action Network (Yamba CAN Inc) last Tuesday attended by more than 50 people.

A winner of state, national, and international awards for projects during his 30 plus year career as a civil/environmental engineer, Mr Mashiah, Council’s Manager Technical Services gave a comprehensive, educational, and very interesting presentation about the Valley’s water supply from its source – the 1600kms sq km catchment of the Nymboida River, and the processes involved before it comes out of your tap.

A new water sharing agreement between Clarence Valley Council (CVC) and Coffs Harbour City Council was negotiated in 2024.

Clarence Valley Council (delete CVC) has a licence to permit extraction of 225 megalitres per day of water from the Nymboida River when the environmental flows are at least 95 per-cent, and if the water in the river exceeds turbidity limits, our water supply comes from the 30,000 megalitre Shannon Creek Dam, which was opened in July 2009.

Many Clarence Valley residents complain of residue in their water, pipes and kettles, which Mr Mashiah explained is most likely lime, which is added to the water to reduce its pH level, so it is less likely to corrode pipes.

The CVC water supply has also undergone treatment for Cryptosporidium since 2019 and gets treated with chlorine at the Rushforth Road Water Treatment Plant (WTP), the water is re-chlorinated at the 21 megalitre Maclean reservoir for Lower Clarence customers.

Through it’s 22,000 plus water connections, Mr Mashiah said CVC supplies more than 40,000 customers, with water reaching an age of 55 days from extraction to reaching the end of the supply system in the Valley.

The Rushforth Road WTP is undergoing stage 1 of its upgrade, Mr Mashiah said with a contract awarded to Pensar Construction Group to build a new 16 megalitre reservoir.

Mr Mashiah said stage 2 of the upgrade of the Rushforth Road WTP involves the construction of a filtration plant, which the government has told Council will be needed in the next 10 years and is estimated to currently cost $83 million.

While filtration will remove 99.999999 per-cent of pathogens from the water, funding will be needed to cover the cost of the plant, the meeting heard.

Mr Mashiah said testing for PFAS in the Clarence Valley and Coffs Harbour water supplies began 6 months ago and our water is no longer tested for the Covid virus.

If you find a build up of lime scale on your kettle, Mr Mashiah suggested boiling some vinegar to remove it, while audience members suggested lemon juice or citric acid.

For anyone with water supply issues, Mr Mashiah suggested calling CVC on 6634 0200 during business hours, or 6626 6858 after hours. 

This article appeared in the Clarence Valley Independent, 12 February 2025.