Seeing that our supply only comes from the Koree Island pumping station and can only pump when all the factors are favourable, I wish to put forward my idea of placing a weir on the river. If placed above Bain's Bridge it would give much more water available to the pumping station that is now available and would enrich the quality of water taken from the Hastings River.

The weir would only need to be a little bit more than a metre high, and there are a few deep holes on the lower side of the pumping station which could enhance the weir's existence.

Stating the news out of the Wauchope Gazette dated 24th October 2019 farmer Dennis Pelham standing on gravel above water level which used to be above his head when there was sufficient water in the river.

I submit papers which lay out the different constructions of weirs and the availability of fish and water creature's access to the higher reaches of the river to which the council could adapt.

If we advance the advice from experts we could act now and put in place a weir while the river is low and reap the benefits for years to come.

On another note, there is the Blue Creek Dam that has been decommissioned years ago and I ask the question: would it be able to get it up and running just to service the town of Wauchope itself?

In old terms the dam size is; Blue Creek gorge is 8fth thick at the top and 18ft thick at the bottom, the dam wall is 62 feet high and 182 feet across. The top of the dam is 392 feet above sea level this gives average height above the town of 250 feet. When full, the dam impounds 13,000,000 gallons of water, another advantage is this dam doesn't need pumps to deliver water it is naturally gravity feed to the town.

OK it's an old dam but in these times of water security I believe that it could be of use, in fact any storage would be a plus to our town Wauchope.

As I write this letter the Port Macquarie Hasting Council are looking at introducing Level 4 water restrictions at its November meeting because of the continued pressure on water supply to the area. The storage levels are declining rapidly with the current combined total at the two dams, Port Macquarie Dam and the Cowarra Dam is just 52.5 per cent thus giving my proposal validity.

I know that in hard times we need to look to the future and install measures that are sensible and have long benefits for our region, please consider this request.

Greg Elliott, Wauchope

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