Relief is on the horizon for dozens of residents in the Williamtown contamination red zone who have been depending on drops of bottled water since they were told they should not use their bore water last September.
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Hunter Water has now begun work to connect 165 homes and businesses to the town water supply, more than four months after the State Government announced it would put up $3.5 million in funding for the initiative.
Among them will be Salt Ash Public School, which has still been watering its lawns out of hours using contaminated bore water. Students at the school only drink tank water as per the advice of the Environmental Protection Authority and have no contact with the bore water.
The project is being delivered in stages with the first works to take place along Fullerton Cove Road and to be completed by June.
The second stage will focus on the Lavis Lane area and the third stage will take in Salt Ash, which has the largest number of households without a town water connection. All households are expected to be hooked up to the network by July next year.
Fears over contamination of tank or bore water by the firefighting chemicals perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid has made some residents reliant on the bottled water for cooking, showering and brushing their teeth.
Hunter Water Interim CEO Jeremy Bath said authorities were aware residents would prefer a clean bill of health for their bore water but said the town water connection meant at least “one of their worries” was removed.
“It’s nice to finally be able to give the residents, who have been to hell and back over the last eight months. some good news,” he said.
The project is being paid for in its entirety by the NSW Government. Mr Bath said it was disappointing the Department of Defence had not yet responded to calls for it to reimburse its state counterpart.
“Absolutely the onus of responsibility continues to sit fairly and squarely with the Department of Defence,” he said.
“I have sympathy and compassion for the NSW government now carrying the bill.”
Salt Ash resident Robert Roseworne said it was “nice” to have town water but for many people it was not the most pressing concern.
“Providing town water is fixing the symptom and not the cause,” he said.
“It’s like putting a bandaid on a leprosy sore.”
Six households declined to be connected to town water after advising Hunter Water they had adequate on-site tank storage.
