Orange City Council made the decision at its recent meeting, along with ruling out any recreation around Suma Park Dam.

Councillors initially voted it down, but a query on numbers led to a second vote where Spring Creek was given the green light.

However, councillor Jeff Whitton said after the meeting he did not believe the resolved position was the intent of the council and will put forward a rescission motion on June 25.

"We need to have it reconsidered by the chamber so we can understand the votes as they meant them to be," he said.

The meeting began with bird watcher Bernard Huxtable and former Richmond councillor Don Harvey opposing open recreational use to protect the birdlife and water quality.

Cr Whitton agreed at the time, saying potable water was like gold.

"We don't really move away from water restrictions, even in good times, we still have water restrictions in place," he said.

"We need to protect the facilities we have that provide drinking water to this community."

Cr Whitton pointed out Spring Creek was a class 1A catchment, meaning people could only build on it if they adhered to strict septic tank requirements.

"It wasn't built for recreation, it was built to service the water needs of this city," he said.

"The lake's for recreation purposes, some aspects of Gosling Creek are for recreational purposes."

Councillor Stephen Nugent agreed, saying it was likely the council would need to call upon Spring Creek's stores in the coming months if the weather remained dry.

"Risks can be managed, but if you don't have to take the risk, why do it?" he said.

Councillor Mario Previtera said members of the public already accessed the dam illegally, while Kinross Wolaroi School used it for rowing training under development approval.

"There's no reason why we can't have other boats," he said.

He said ecotourism through birdwatching should be pursued rather than boating.

Technical services director Ian Greenham told councillors each of the three dams were fed by separate creeks and the council had little control over the quality of the flows into Summer Hill Creek, which fed Suma Park Dam.

"At some stage in the future, we may have to introduce UV disinfection, as well as the other methods we have at the treatment plant - that is forecast in the 30-year plan and there is money set aside for those works."

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