Channon resident and botanist, Nan Nicholson is a passionate environmentalist, who together with a group of like-minded people has established an educational and awareness campaign on Rous County Councils proposed $245M Dunoon dam.

"There are many options of securing water for our future besides another dam," Ms Nicholson said.

"Around ten years ago I was part of a reference group for the regions water strategy development and research.

"The two main reasons the dam was stopped then was 1, Aboriginal Heritage and 2, the Rainforest at the Channon Gorge.

Ms Nicholson said should the current proposal for the dam at the Channon/Dunoon site go ahead, more than six hectares of forest will be removed.

For many residents the new dam has raised concerns over contamination, 'super-flooding' downstream, destruction of important Indigenous cultural heritage along with the Channon Gorge and its endangered ecological community of

lowland rainforest.

"The Channon Gorge is a regionally rare warm temperate rainforest on sandstone whereas most of the forest is on volcanic rock soil.

"Population growth should not come at the cost of rare and significant heritage sites that are some of the last of the big scrub forests," she said.

Rous County Council’s Chairperson Keith Williams said that demand forecasts for water over the next 40 years include the supply of five gigalitres of water each year.

“The Future Water Project 2060 sets out the most viable option for boosting our bulk water supply to ensure that future demand can be met in the face of changing climate conditions and sustained population growth.

“It will also make sure our community is not burdened by excessive water restrictions,” he said.

Mr Williams explained that any significant piece of new infrastructure must take into account many important ecological, cultural heritage, landowner, funding and other issues that would need to be carefully considered as part of its further development.

General Manager Rous County Council, Phillip Rudd said Rous County Council had come to their outcomes via long-term extensive investigations into determining the most viable permanent solution of future water supply.

“Most recently, we finished exploring numerous new water source options which were identified in our Future Water Strategy that was adopted in 2014 following extensive community input," Mr Rudd said.

“We particularly looked at the long-term viability of desalination, recycled water, increased groundwater use and the long-proposed Dunoon Dam."

Yet many residents remain up in the air, especially over the reported population growth predicted for the four Rous-supplied councils of only 12,720 persons between 2020-2060.

There is also the issue of water becoming more expensive if the dam is built.

Mr Rudd said that he expected a fourfold increase in the cost of supplying water if the dam is built.

Ms Nichols said that water efficiency is the key to sustainable water supply and demand balance.

"There really needs to be a more thorough regional audit of water use and how water is not used efficiently," she said.

"By focusing on system efficiency, Sydney added an additional 950,000 people without a rise in water consumption,"

Public submissions on the proposed Future Water Project 2060 will be accepted until Wednesday 9 September 2020.

Residents can make their submission via Rous County Council's website https://rous.nsw.gov.au/cp_themes/default/page.asp?p=DOC-KZG-22-16-87

No Dam for the Channon or Dunoon group has produced a submission guide which can be viewed here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W29wR-hfYQ6l_DTc1lJPaSn7-R_k5edl/view