The state government passed legislation in November enabling certain councils, including Orange, to apply for emergency drought relief measures.

Orange City Council applied on November 28 to lower the Macquarie River pipeline trigger point from 108 megalitres a day to 38 megalitres a day to maximise the number of days the pipeline could be used to top up supplies.

At a public water forum, projections predicted the change could help Orange avoid level six restrictions.

The application was made to Water Minister Melinda Pavey, whose spokeswoman told the Central Western Daily consultation with stakeholders was complete and recommendations on conditions were being finalised.

"Following this, the Minister for Water will seek concurrence with the Environment Minister within a matter of weeks," the spokeswoman said.

Mayor Reg Kidd was not concerned about the delay, saying the flows through the Macquarie River were currently too low to pump, even with a lower trigger point.

"We can't forget that to get the pipeline, it took several years," he said.

"It's something we could use to top up our water supplies later."

The delay comes as certain councillors call for a meeting next Tuesday night to discuss the progression into level 5A and six water restrictions.

Councillors Kevin Duffy and Glenn Taylor have spearheaded the move following briefings at the end of last year.

"I'm not saying that council has been deliberately secretive, but we want it in an open forum," Cr Taylor said.

"We're entrusting the community to do this and they deserve to know everything."

Council spokesman Nick Redmond said all councillors were briefed on water restrictions, consumption, dam levels and projections before Christmas.

"As advised at that meeting, the [chief executive officer] David Waddell would in January be announcing the details of city's water management for the year ahead," he said.

"That announcement will be made in the coming days."

A second community forum on water will also be scheduled.

Cr Duffy said he would have preferred to see any documents before they were released in case changes were needed.

"Droughts don't come with a start date and they don't tell you when they're going to finish so we need to know where we're going to get our water from," he said.

Cr Taylor said they would also be asking for the Cook Park duck pond, which is bore-fed and currently being cleaned, to be refilled to provide a place of respite away from residents' dry gardens, plus a chance to choose which hour residents water on Sundays.

"Some might choose to water early in the morning or 4pm when they can do it," he said.