Curlewis farmer Lachlan James has had a small win for “fairness and equity” for water charges at his property and those of his neighbours.
For years his family-run cattle operation located on the eastern side of the Kamilaroi Highway has been paying residential water charges to Gunnedah Shire Council for non-potable water.
About seven other properties in the area are in a similar predicament.
The water supply at Mr James’ property, which is not recommended for household use due to the distance it travels in the pipeline from Gunnedah, is used solely for business purposes such as stock feeding and machinery cleaning.
Despite its poor quality, Mr James has been required to pay the residential full rate because of the way it is connected.
The issue has been exacerbated by the introduction of the tier three water charge system, which due to the volume of water used under the residential rate, means the farmer now pays a lot more than previous years.
“We’re being provided water that is non potable but for decades have been paying residential water rates,” he said.
“This is about fairness and equity.
“It is important to stand up for what you believe in.”
The anomaly arises as Mr James’ property is located at the bottom end of the water network.
This means the water is “too long in the pipeline to have enough chlorine in it” to meet the safe water guidelines.
“The water connections are quite unique, previously it was connected to Curlewis town water but things were changed when Curlewis was connected to Gunnedah,” he added.
Mr James said the non potable predicament only applies to a “small cluster” in the Curlewis area but
the added financial cost borne by
his business and others is not
insignificant.
“We’re talking about tens of thousands of dollars compared to millions in the shire water budget,” he said.
Following a notice of motion by councillor Juliana McArthur, and presentation to council by Mr James, councillors agreed to vary the water charges and endorsed the following motion: “For the purpose of calculation of water consumption charges, remove the properties classified as farmland as specified in the Local Government Act 1993 (NSW) for the purposes of ordinary rates and supplied non potable water from the category of Water Consumption Charge – Residential water charges and instead place it in the category of Water Consumption Charge – Non-residential/Non-Rateable Properties”.
Council also agreed to place the proposed change on public exhibition for a period of 28 days and should there be no submission, adopt and implement the changes from the expiration of the exhibition period.
Mr James said the change was a win for common sense.
“I can understand why things may have been missed in the past, why it fell into residential rates, but it’s good there is clarity around it now,” he said.
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