Vandals threaten town Water Supply

The temporary weir site at North Bourke. Photo TWH

Just as rain and rising river levels bring a little relief to Bourke, vandals put at risk the town’s water supply when they damaged the temporary weir wall at North Bourke last week.

Manager of Works Peter Brown said it appeared the damage had been deliberate and he was at a loss to explain why anyone would potentially threaten the town’s water supply in such dire times.

“Whether we lose an inch or a metre of water it will have an effect,” Mr Brown said.

“It appears to be deliberate – a channel was dug through the earthworks at the site where we had recently built the weir.

“Luckily we were contacted last Wednesday evening by a couple of people who saw the damage and got in touch with us.

“The structure is important because it allows the water to remain deep enough for the pumps to work. If we hadn’t been notified so promptly who knows how much water would have been lost back upstream.

“If we’d lost too much it would mean the town pumps wouldn’t be able to operate and the supply of water to the town would have been affected,

“We would have been totally reliant on the bore water supplies.”

The damage was quickly rectified by council staff within a few hours of the breach being reported.

Read more in the printed edition of the Western Herald.