The Australian and New South Wales Labor governments have committed $21.5 million to lock in long-term water quality infrastructure in three communities in the state’s Far West.

Construction is underway to upgrade the Urunga Sewage Treatment Plant as part of an overhaul of wastewater services across Bellingen Shire’s coastal communities to ensure they’re equipped with infrastructure for the future that will deliver the

Armidale’s one step closer to securing an upgraded sewage treatment plant, with design work underway to overhaul the current facility thanks to over $1.2 million being invested by the NSW Government and Armidale Regional Council.

Singleton is one step closer to an upgraded sewage treatment plant with the NSW Government investing $176,250 to complete design work and progress the project to tender ready stage.

Mungindi has switched on a new permanent $325,000 water cooling tower to ensure the town’s 600 residents will continue to have safe and high-quality drinking water during weather extremes.

The Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR) begins the next leg of Operation Drawdown this week, targeting bores which appear to be exceeding their extraction limits.

The department announced a temporary water restriction for the Upper Lachlan groundwater management zone 1 in the Upper Lachlan Alluvial Groundwater Source.

The NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment is making new water access licences available in 43 groundwater sources across NSW.

The state’s water regulator will be visiting properties with bores in the Griffith area in mid-June after a ‘desktop audit’ found almost 10 per cent of bores in the area may be extracting more water than allowed.