Orange City Council announced on Friday water restrictions would be upgraded to level three from this Saturday, which will include a ban on hand-held hoses and sprinklers.

However, councillor Glenn Taylor will use Tuesday night’s extraordinary council meeting to move to postpone the change until January, saying the council was treating ratepayers harshly.

“People have pulled me up and told me it’s a bit rough to introduce it so early,” he said. 

“Bathurst’s got a much easier level three than we do.

“They can’t just snap their fingers and put microsprays in – if you’re older and you don’t have family to help, you can’t do it.”

Cr Taylor said Christmas should be allowed as a grace period to allow residents to maintain their gardens ahead of family gatherings and prepare for the tougher restrictions. 

The Central Western Daily understands Orange, Bathurst and Dubbo councils decided some time ago to leave water management to staff through the use of trigger points.

However, Bathurst councillors still voted on whether to proceed to level three restrictions.

Resident in both LGAs will be able to water gardens from 6am-9am and 6pm-9pm on the odds and evens system, but Orange will require microsprays, drip systems and soaker hoses to be used, while Bathurst residents will still be able to use hand-held hoses and sprinklers, but only for half an hour at a time. 

Cars in Orange will only be able to be washed with a bucket, while hoses will still be permitted in Bathurst. 

For Orange, level three restrictions would be lifted if storage hits 60 per cent. 

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