Hunter Water to reopen three borelines in the Tomago Sandbeds

Tenders have been called to reopen three borelines within the Tomago Sandbeds catchment that were decomissioned in the 1980s due to poor water quality.

The move will put an extra 8 to 10 million litres of water into the region's supply every 24 hours.

"We are currently undergoing a tender assessment process, and are optimistic the additional bores could be operational by mid-year. The project would involve refurbishing equipment so that the borelines could be used to provide an additional 8-10 million litres of drinking water each day," a Hunter Water spokeswoman said.

The Tomago Sandbeds draw on underground water from a 25 kilometre catchment between Tomago and Lemon Tree Passage.

It puts Hunter Water in touch with a whopping 54,000 million litres of water.

There are already 20 borelines within that area, which collectively produce about 75 million litres of water per day.

The first line was installed in the catchment area in 1939 and since then more have been gradually added to the web.

Additional borelines haven't been introduced in the past two decades.

The borelines draw water from between 12 metres and 30 metres below the ground surface.

The plan to recommission the borelines was in place before widespread rain brought some parts of the region hundreds of millimetres of rain.

The region is still suffering from drought and water storage levels remain lower than normal at 63 per cent. The overall catchment has 7 per cent less water in it than it did one year ago.

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