Water from the Gunnedah Memorial Pool Complex continues to flow down Ashford's water course as Gunnedah Shire Council searches for the exact source of the leak.
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The matter was raised at last night's meeting when chief engineer Dan Noble updated councillors on the ongoing issue after a request from Cr Owen Hasler.
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In the report to council, Mr Noble said the source had "not yet been identified" but could be traced back to the pool complex.
"[It] comes from the site's internal drainage, however, the exact location has not yet been confirmed," he said.
"There are a number of possibilities and these are subject to ongoing investigation and include a natural spring, a leak from the decommissioned pool balance tank of the heated 25m pool or a leak from the South Street reservoir.
"Councillors may recall that water continued to flow when the [50m] pool was empty. There was water in the excavation of the memorial pool when it was under construction and anecdotally water is thought to have run down the water course prior to and during construction."
Cr Hasler said it "amazes" him that the exact source hadn't been pinpointed yet.
"[I] still find it very difficult to understand why engineers can't identify, in the middle of the worst drought we've had for many decades, the source of the water flowing down South Street," he said.
"In this very dry time, there must be a source of water flowing down the channel. It amazes me it's not been identified yet and I hope it may come to fruition down the track."
The council first became aware of "an increase in water flow" through the Ashford's water course in early August and after investigating determined the additional flow was coming from within the pool complex's internal drainage system.
Mr Noble said staff thought a hydrostatic valve might leaking and would require cleaning and reseating, but the discovery of a leak in the 50m pool took precedence.
The leak in the 50m pool was traced to the movement joint and the pool was emptied and closed for two months so it could be repaired by specialist contractor Metz.
At the meeting, Mr Noble said he couldn't confirm if the repair works had been successful but factors including water usage, indicated they had been.
"There is a contract in place between council and contractor Hines to test the pool for water tightness at the conclusion of the summer season," he said.
"If the defect repair has not been effective at the point in time, the repair works will have to be redone and the pool drained again ... however, staff are cautiously optimistic that that will not be the case."
