After the pipeline was opened on Thursday, Orange Ratepayers Association president and pipeline property owner Colin Young said stormwater harvesting was far more cost-effective.

“It’s lifting the water a very small height in altitude from where the stormwater is collected into Suma Park Dam, so the cost of pumping it has got to be a fraction of the cost of lifting it from the Macquarie River to here,” he said.

He said there was a 400-metre altitude change in the pipeline, compared to 15 metres for the stormwater harvesting scheme.

Mayor John Davis said regulations surrounding stormwater harvesting had meant the system had not been used.

“It was sitting out there and it had grass in it that you had to mow with a heavy duty lawn mower, we weren’t allowed to touch the water until certain regulations kicked in, it’s just absolute madness,” he said.

“There’s no risk, this would not have had to be done if we had the sole use of all the stormwater that we’ve got in the city boundaries, but we had to do something, there was no better option.”

However, with a judgment issued in April awarding a licence for the stormwater harvesting scheme, pending the completion of Suma Park Dam upgrades, Cr Davis said the two formed a package to keep Orange’s water supply secure.

“Sometimes, even in drought, you get storms and if the Macquarie comes under pressure and we can’t pump, we’ve then got the stormwater harvesting,” he said.

With use of the pipeline limited to flows in the Macquarie above 108 megalitres and only during times where Suma Park’s water storage is less than 90 per cent capacity, Cr Davis said its intention was to top it up.

“We supply a lot of stormwater into the Macquarie and heaven forbid we’d like to have a decent, reliable water [supply] for the next 50 years.”

danielle.cetinski@fairfaxmedia.com.au