Villages around Tenterfield will soon enhance their firefighting capabilities and more, with bores to be drilled in Legume, Liston, Torrington and Drake.
Tenterfield Shire Council secured the funding through the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund (BLERF) grant.
The first bore to commence drilling will be the village of Legume, located at the crossroads of Acacia Avenue and Flagstone Roads, which is earmarked from the 23rd April 2024.
“Legume is a part of the Village bore grant funded program as a part of the Bush Fire recovery, the first of 4 bores to be drilled,” said Tenterfield Mayor, Bronwyn Petrie.
“Our small villages do not have a public water supply so these bores will provide critical supply during bushfires and will also be able to be used for livestock..”
Once completed, the bore will be a firefighting and livestock bore available for the community to use.
Drake, Torrington and Liston will follow suit, each having their own story for needing a bore.
“Drake, which during the fires of 2019/20 had two emergency fires at the beginning of the multiple fire events and then another at the end,” said Mayor Petrie.
“The high importance of the bore for Drake as a firefighting water source is that during the fires the town was cut off from supply to Tenterfield and to the Clarence River as well on several occasions.”
“Torrington was devastated by the fires with infrastructure, housing and lives lost, the community is still terrified, and a permanent source of firefighting and livestock water will ensure some peace of mind.”
“Liston town has some private supplies however these in drought can be affected and a town source for livestock and firefighting is needed.”
The project is jointly funded by Tenterfield Shire Council together with the NSW Government including the Department of Regional NSW (DRNSW), and while eager to get started, the process has not been smooth sailing.
“The process for obtaining NRAR (Natural Resource Access Regulator) – now changed to NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) – licences to drill the bores has been frustrating.” said Bronwyn.
“The process commenced in October in 2022 and was supposed to be a 60 day process.”
“This extensive delay in receiving the licences for the remaining villages threatens the loss of the grant which would be a terrible outcome for these communities.”
Tenterfield Shire Council appreciates residents patience during this project.
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