Council to investigate wastewater reuse

Cr McRae said councillors generally did not want to be involved in sewage projects, but she had "taken the plunge" in putting the motion forward.

"Our community is on board and understands stormwater harvesting and it's time to put to them ... for wastewater to be part of our water security," she said.

"This is the only way we can guarantee that there will be water in our pipes - it's the only water supply over which we will have control, it gives us self-reliance."

She said it was a closed loop and the technology was available to treat the water to drinking standard, but it could also be considered for industry, agriculture, environmental flows and even firefighting.

"If we rely on dams, they're contingent on rainfall and I don't know that anywhere in the Orange LGA has landowners jumping up and down volunteering to put a new dam on their property," she said.

She was supported on the night by three residents who addressed the council, among them Grace Perreira, who moved from Singapore, which started recycling water after Malaysia stopped selling it.

"Now Malaysia buys our water," she said.

Council staff said the majority of Orange Sewage Treatment Plant's treated effluent was recycled under agreement with Cadia Valley Operations.

The agreement gives CVO access to the first 10 megalitres a day with the ability to take up to 13 megalitres a day if the council does not require the excess to discharge into Blackmans Swamp Creek.

Cr McRae said the reviewing the agreement would be a "little way down the track".

Councillor Scott Munro said "we'll never run out of water" due to the infrastructure already in place, but warned CVO represented a large investment in Orange's economy.

"Those workers I feel deserve to have that water security," he said.

Councillor Jason Hamling liked the idea of sporting fields, but deputy mayor Sam Romano said the answer was more storage via a larger dam or another supply.

The council's Integrated Water Cycle Management Study from 2013 has already outlined possible options, including potable reuse by treating the water to a high standard and transferring it back into Suma Park Dam, supplementing flows in Blackmans Swamp Creek so the council can harvest more stormwater, putting the water through the purple pipes to north and west Orange or supplying parks and gardens.