About our water

The major water storages in the area include Farmers Creek Dam #2, Oberon Dam, Lake Lyell and Lake Wallerawang. Only Farmers Creek Dam #2 and Oberon Dam supply drinking water.

Farmers Creek Dam #2

Water from Farmers Creek Dam is filtered at the Oakey Park Water Treatment Plant and supplied to Lithgow. The original lower dam (Dam #1) which was built in 1896 is no longer used. The upper dam which was built in 1907 has a capacity of 450 ML and has a top water level of 1000m AHD. Farmers Creek Dam has a small catchment area of 12 km². The secure yield of Farmers Creek Dam has been estimated at 400 ML/a under current environmental flow release requirements.

Clarence Water Transfer Scheme

The Farmers Creek Dam system is also provided with a supplementary supply from the Clarence Water Transfer Scheme. When there is insufficient natural water flow into the dam, up to 14 ML/day of water can be transferred from the Clarence Water Transfer Scheme.

Fish River Water Scheme

Fish River Water Scheme sources of water are the Oberon Dam (capacity 45,400ML) and the Duckmaloi Weir (20ML). Water gravitates to the scheme with pressure booster stations at Narrowneck and Mt Piper. Present water supply management for the use of water from the Fish River covers supply of drinking water to Lithgow’s rural villages on a continuous basis but supply is also able to be connected to Lithgow town water under a supply arrangement. Provision for using this water is conditional and based on the availability of water from other sources such as Farmers Creek and Clarence Water Transfer Scheme. The FRWS currently operates for the villages beyond the water main junction at West Wallerawang.

Recent dam levels

Dam	Date	Capacity
Lithgow Dam #2	24th February 2023	97.0%
Oberon Dam	24th February 2023	99.3%

Annual Dams Safety Standards Report

The Annual Dams Safety Standards Report is the way a dam owner’s ‘accountable office holder’ attests to the dam owner’s level of compliance with the dams safety standards prescribed in the Dams Safety Regulation 2019. The report also provides important information to Dams Safety NSW to enable the regulator to prioritise their compliance activities.

Key points about the report are:

the declared dam owner must publish a report every year
the declared dam owner must demonstrate compliance with the dams safety standards in the report
the dams safety standards prescribed in the Dams Safety Regulation 2019 are:
- Part 3 ‘Consequence Category of dam’
- Part 5 ‘Dam safety management system’
- Part 6 ‘Other safety requirements’
the report must be in a form approved by Dams Safety NSW
the dam owner must make the report available at the owner’s main office and on the owner’s website
the report must be submitted to Dams Safety NSW.

The dams safety legislation requires all declared dam owners to publish an Annual Dams Safety Standard Report for their dam.

Section 14 (4) of the Dams Safety Act 2015 requires a declared dam owner to publish a report demonstrating the owner’s compliance with the dams safety standards.
Clause 26 of the Dams Safety Regulation 2019 (the Regulation) requires the dam owner to provide a copy of the report to Dams Safety NSW, in a form approved by Dams Safety NSW.

Lithgow City Council provides these reports in line with the legislation as seen on this website.

Download Annual Dams Safety Standards Report - No 1 Farmers Creek - Dams Safety NSW

Download Annual Dams Safety Standards Report - No 2 Farmers Creek - Dams Safety NSW

Council has adopted a water charges structure that moves toward compliance with the State Government’s Best Practice Guidelines. This requires an access charge based on capacity (water meter size) and a two-step pricing system for water consumption for residential and business customers.

Under the Best Practice Guidelines, Council must receive no less than 75% of its water charges from residential customers via usage charges. Therefore high volume water consumers will pay more than those who consume a lower volume of water.

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