In fact, Bathurst's facility would be larger in size than the one further west, and would contain obstacles impossible to be used in Orange.

The confirmation comes after Orange City Council, at its April 16 meeting, resolved to endorse the plans, which will now go to Cabonne Council for the development application process.

Bathurst Aqua Park owner Michael Hickey would be the one to deliver the facility at Lake Canobolas.

He said there has been a lot of interest in the aqua park since it first came to Bathurst in late 2018, not just from the general public, but school groups as well.

"There's a big demand for the water park," Mr Hickey said.

While he wants to bring the aqua park experience to Orange, Mr Hickey has no intention of abandoning Bathurst.

"We can run both," he said.

Chifley Dam and Lake Canobolas are two very different bodies of water, which would ensure the parks have a symbiotic relationship.

With Lake Canobolas being much smaller and not as deep as Chifley Dam, it limits what equipment would be able to be used.

Mr Hickey said the tall inflatables, such as the big cliffs, that have been a staple of Bathurst's aqua park would not be possible at the Orange equivalent.

"You can't do that at Canobolas; you don't have the depth of water there," he said.

And, with a smaller body of water to work with in Orange, any park configuration it gets would be much smaller than what's on offer in Bathurst.

"If you put in a park like Bathurst's, it would take up nearly that whole dam," Mr Hickey said.

As a result, they would be "two completely separate parks", designed in a way to make patrons want to visit both.

"If we build this park, I want to make it completely different to Bathurst so that people from Bathurst want to go and try the Orange one, and people from Orange want to try the Bathurst one," Mr Hickey said.

One of the things that has hurt the Bathurst Aqua Park in recent years has been blue green algae outbreaks at Chifley Dam.

When an algae outbreak triggers a red level alert, the dam must close for all water-based recreational activities.

During the 2023-24 season, the park operated for just 36 days, despite being in Bathurst for more than two months before the season was cut short.

That was the result of a dam closure which lasted from December 4 to January 5.

Mr Hickey has called for a better water testing policy at Chifley Dam, saying it takes too long to get results as the samples are sent away for testing.

So far, he said, a solution has not been reached.

He said he is keen to keep working with Bathurst council to find a better way forward, as water testing is essential to the viability of the aqua park.

"Water can change daily. It can change daily, so water testing's everything," Mr Hickey said.

"For Bathurst to work successfully, it all comes down to how we're going to water test."

He is eager to see the Bathurst park continue to grow, saying the regional city has become a second home for him.

"I enjoy coming to Bathurst every year. We've got a lot of friends down in Bathurst now," he said.

"It's just like a second home.

"Really, in a way, it is my home."