MEDIA reports claiming Orange only has six months of water left have been labelled "naughty" and "sensationalised" by the mayor.
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He referred to a story on the drought by the ABC at the weekend, which said bigger centres such as Tamworth and Orange had as little as six to 12 months of water left and were considered high risk by the state government.
Councillor Jason Hamling said he fielded a number of questions during the weekend.
"Could I just get an update to reassure everyone how much water we do have left?" he said.
Acting director David Waddell said there had been several meetings during the week, including with the drought commissioner.
"For the ABC to say we had six months left concerned us greatly," he said.
"If you went for a pure number with no inflows, no rain whatsoever, we're talking more like 12-18 months."
Mayor Reg Kidd said he had made his feelings quite clear to the media outlet and a retraction would be aired.
"It could be the end of my gardening show, I'd say," he said.
"It was very, very naughty and it was sensationalised a little bit."
Councillor Glenn Taylor said Cobar was about to be restricted to 160 litres per person per day when Orange residents were already using just 137 litres.
"We're way, way above where we should be," he said.
Mr Waddell confirmed staff were reporting back on other drought measures.
An ABC spokeswoman said the network stood by its story.
"[It] has made clear, both in our content and to Orange City Council, where our figures were sourced," she said.
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