Dunoon will not be getting a new dam, after Rous County Council councillors voted against it in a meeting on Wednesday afternoon.

The three and a half hour meeting saw the local water authority discuss how best to secure a regional future water supply into the future to 2060.

Rous councillor Vanessa Ekins said she had worked for days to prepare a motion to see the dam option removed from the proposed integrated water management strategy - and was excited that other Councillors voted to support her motion. 

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Councillor Cook, Richardson, Ekins, Cameron, and Williams voted for the motion, while Crs Cadwallader, Mustow and Humphreys voted against.

“The motion stated we should cease all action on Dunoon dam and acknowledge all of the consultation we had done,” she said.

“It also said we should report on what we do with the land and look at Aboriginal Traditional Owners accessing land with significant cultural heritage value.”

Cr Ekins said the way forward now was to progress groundwater options at Marom Creek and Alstonville for the next ten years on water security. 

Then to adopt recycled water options for future development.

“We need to change how we use water and all the experts say recycled water is the future. We need more than 50% of our water supply not to rely on rainfall.

“Recycled water options will be for the people who come to live here later,” she said.

“Using recycling water means we always have a supply of recycled water.

“Even when we are in drought, water use never ceases – it just goes down the toilet or shower and is treated as waste - but it shouldn’t be. We can process it and use it.

“This is happening all round the world, except in NSW – so we will be heading the and demonstrate to the State Government how we can do it.”

Cr Ekins has been a part of the Rous County Council since 2008 and said the dam option had been on the agenda and discussed for a long time.

“The water plan we looked at in 2014 after two years of community consultation came up with the preferred options of groundwater and recycled water – so we have just now reinforced the decision we made then,” she said.

The next stage is now to talk with the community over the next ten years. 

“We are giving ourselves lots of lead time lead time to consult with the community and overcome many fears people have about recycled water,” she said.

With over 1300 public submissions made to the Council about its proposed water strategy to 2060, Cr Ekins said the level of engagement showed how important the issue of water was.

“Today is a pivotal day,” she said.