The 39-kilometre Macquarie pipeline was officially opened after a year in construction and many more in the planning.

Once environmental reporting and management plans are completed in the coming months, it will be able to pump water, provided Suma Park Dam is below 90 per cent capacity and the Macquarie River’s flow is above 108 megalitres.

Initially priced at $47 million, the council saved $5 million due to cheaper than expected electrical work.

Orange City Council general manager Garry Styles described it as a “long and difficult project”, while mayor John Davis said he was happy he would not have to contest any more state elections to keep the project on the agenda.

He spoke of the concern in 2010 when Orange’s water storage dropped to 23 per cent.

“At 22 per cent, you close the city - no water to schools, no water to hospitals,” he said.

VIDEO: Water flowing out of the Macquarie pipeline at Thursday's opening:

“We invented a separate class [of water restrictions] as it went down from one to five, five being awful, we put the half in the middle to make sure we didn’t have a situation where Orange was effectively going to close down,” he said.

Cr Davis indicated in his speech continued funding under the current state Coalition government had been “on a limb”, however it now had member for Orange Andrew Gee and member for Calare John Cobb’s support.

Of the funds, $18.2 million came from the state government and $20 million came from the federal government.

“I do believe we’ve got them onside now because I’ve got to say the state government in the last six months have really grasped the lack of water security in NSW,” he said.

Mr Gee indicated there had been significant political pressure on the project around the 2011 election but it would have been a failure of political leadership if nothing happened.

“There was an army of consultants and ... this was the one standing at the end of that process,” he said.

“Water links our regional communities yet it’s also a topic that divides us like no other.”

Mr Cobb congratulated the council on the project’s completion, however he said he looked forward to a dam for the entire region.

“This a project for Orange, let’s now do a project for everyone,” he said.

Technical services director Chris Devitt thanked contractor Leed Engineering and Construction and acknowledged the tough build. 

“Being out there in the middle of summer seeing guys welding steel pipes out in that pretty tough country gave an indication of how hard it was, the going was pretty tough, but good technology and good processes got the work done,” he said.

He also thanked the residents along the pipeline for their co-operation, saying rehabilitation was ongoing, but “hopefully it’s the last you’ll see of us”.

The money saved during construction will be placed in a fund, with the interest to cover ongoing maintenance.

danielle.cetinski@fairfaxmedia.com.au