Water supply back to near normal

Monday 4 September 2017

Council is continuing to dredge salty water from Bray Park Weir to return the Tweed water supply to normal.

Two dredges are working to pull water from the depths of two deep holes; one very close to the intake tower. The water the dredges are discharging downstream over the wall of the weir has a dissolved solids content of 3100mg/litre.

The water now being produced at the Bray Park Water Treatment Plant has a dissolved solids content of 198mg/litre, which is very near Council’s normal high-quality water standard of 160mg/litre.

Chlorine dosing levels at the plant have been reset to normal.

“Over the coming week or so there may still be elevated salt levels in our tap water as it does take some time for our reticulated water network to completely refresh,” Manager Water and Wastewater Anthony Burnham said. “But the water is not harmful to human health and the salt levels have remained well within the ‘good’ range as set by the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.”

Meanwhile, Council workers are today filling sandbags in readiness for sandbagging the wall to protect the weir from another predicted high tide in coming days.

“It’s going to be difficult to sandbag the wall yet maintain the current daily release of fresh water from Clarrie Hall Dam,” Mr Burnham said.

Meanwhile, Council has had some reports of dirty water in parts of Murwillumbah. This was a result of Hospital Hill reservoir empting on Saturday evening and air getting into the mains, leading to a scouring action in the pipes and the water becoming discoloured.

“This is a separate issue and has nothing to do with the salt water issue,” Mr Burnham said. “We will respond individually to these calls and flush the pipes at affected properties. We have had a total of 24 calls to 11am this morning.”