PH Barraba Water Supply

The township of Barraba is located in a relatively dry region of the New England tableland in northern NSW. It currently draws its water supply from a mixture of sources including the Connors Creek Dam, a water harvesting pump station on the Manilla River, and a small number of shallow aquifer bores.

Barraba frequently experiences water shortages during dry periods. This is exacerbated by blue-green algae blooms which periodically occur in Connors Creek Dam which prevent its water being used, and the substantial siltation which has occurred in the dam and has greatly reduced its storage capacity.

Crucible Principal Mick Varidel was engaged to undertake a detailed evaluation of the water supply source options for the township. This assessment encompassed both its existing water sources and potential new sources such as extracting water from the distant Split Rock Dam, establishment of a new borefield and a larger water harvesting scheme discharging into either a new ring dam or to the Connors Creek Dam. These sources were integrated into several water source scheme options which were evaluated using a hydrologic computer simulation model. The analysis incorporated assessment of the impacts of climate change and utilise stochastic methods to develop statistically robust results. Options were compared using multi-criteria analysis.

Water quality from each source varied considerably and the study also evaluated the impact of this issue on the water treatment system requirements.