Gunnedah Shire Council's new water reservoir on Apex Road has officially been opened.
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On Wednesday, councillors and key stakeholders had a look at the new four-megalitre structure, which has been constructed alongside the existing reservoir in Bottlebrush Park.
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Mayor Jamie Chaffey said the additional water storage would provide much-needed supply resilience, improve operational flexibility and support continued growth.
"We were told back in 2014 that if we didn't do something by 2030 we would have major issues in our community in being able to supply water to our residents and to our commercial areas," Cr Chaffey said.
"We need to get the infrastructure right; we need to make sure we've got enough infrastructure like water storage to be able to satisfy a growing community."
The base of the new reservoir was poured in June 2018 and the final site works including fencing, surround drainage and staircase enclosures were finalised in March 2019.
Gunnedah Shire Council's Daniel Noble said work was expected to be completed in late 2018 but was delayed because of "changes in the scope".
"The beams under the roof were originally galvanised mild steel but we ended up upgrading them to aluminium beams and rafters to get a longer life out of the reservoir," Mr Noble said.
"The bulk earthworks took a little longer than we initially anticipated. I think the contractor allowed about six weeks to do that and it stretched out closer to nine weeks."
Mr Noble said the reservoir was online just before Christmas but the surrounds of the sites were being finished over the past three months.
Contractor Hornicks Constructions' Greg Zingelmann said it was "a pleasure working on the project".
"We're from Brisbane so it's good for us to get out into the country towns and we like to use a lot of the local [companies]," Mr Zingelmann said.
"We used a lot of the local electrical, earth moving, and concrete businesses on this project."
Consultation was undertaken with the local Aboriginal community to build the new reservoir and a symbolic bench seat recognising the traditional owners of the land will be installed at the site. Gamilaroi man Mitchum Neave attended the opening.