MidCoast Council earlier this month announced it would construct a temporary plant at the Nabiac aquifer water supply plant.

Extensive rain across the Manning River catchment has brought relief to our water supplies and an opportunity to suspend progress on the construction of the plant, MidCoast Council infrastructure and engineering services director, Rob Scott said.

"We've been closely watching the river following the rain," Mr Scott said.

"As a result of the changing river conditions we now have some flexibility in the timing for delivery of the Nabiac desalination project."

The solid rainfall received over the weekend, up to 150mm in some parts of the Manning catchment, has meant pumping from the Manning River into Bootawa Dam is set to restart over the coming weeks.

Once the dam is able to be filled this provides water security for the community and this, combined with the work underway at the Nabiac borefield and an expected return to more normal weather patterns, means there is time to further assess the desalination project.

"The desalination project was always part of our drought response plan for our community to ensure we didn't get to a point where water restrictions had to be tightened significantly," Mr Scott said.

"We were coming to a point where further commitments to the construction project had to be made.

"This suspension will give us time to make sure that the further costs are still warranted.

"We still have the ability to start work again on the project if it becomes necessary."

MidCoast Council opted to proceed with the temporary desalination project in December 2019, to ensure the Manning and Forster-Tuncurry areas would have enough water if no substantial rain was received before March this year.

"This avoided needing to tighten restrictions and reduced the impacts on our economy," Mr Scott said.

"Many businesses were already doing it tough through the fires and the drought. Increasing restrictions would have had significant impacts."

Related:

Construction activities on-site will ramp down as the current phases of work are complete and the site can be left.

"The final detailed design of the plant will continue so that we are ready to start work again if needed."

The situation will be reviewed in two weeks.

"We're pleased that the rainfall has allowed us some reprieve, but severe level four water restrictions remain in force for now, so we encourage everyone to continue to save water where they can."

Stay ahead with local news by signing up for the Great Lakes Advocate newsletter here.