For years, Tomingley’s water supply has been temperamental at best, reliant on the ebbs and flows of the local creek to hydrate the town. Finally, a solution is close on the horizon for the town. 

Narromine Shire Council Mayor Craig Davies said that the water supply in Tomingley has been a major priority for the council, but the funding has never been there. 

With $320,000 in funding on its way as part of a larger allocation of federal government funding, the solution will finally be delivered. 

“Tomingley has got water down there but it’s not potable water. They’ve relied on a creek that runs into a couple of dams and is pumped across the highway…it’s been a pretty unsavoury situation for way too long,” Cr Davies said. 

In the past, the council has handed out water tanks to every household to offset the impact, but the solution has never been long-term. 

The Tomingley Gold operations have also topped up the local reservoir for the locals when they could, but in drought years it wasn’t viable. 

“It’s good to get this funding so these people can get potable water in their homes,” Cr Davies said. 

The funding is part of almost $2 million in federal funding that will go to priority projects in the Narromine Shire Council, almost $1 million of which will go into local road works, with gravel re-sheeting along Newhaven Road, Wyanga Road, Belmont Road and Backwater Road.

“During the drought we found it very difficult to get much done in the way of road work because there was no water. So at times we were carting water 50 or 60 kilometres, which makes it reasonably cost prohibitive,” Cr Davies said. 

Pulling their focus to town infrastructure for the last few years - including recreational assets like sporting facilities and halls - the shire is at the point where they can return attention to the local road network. 

“We’re very much an agricultural shire and we need for farmers to be able to get their produce to market rather than sit on farms due to poor roads,” Cr Davies said. 

With 1500 kilometres of roads in the shire, Cr Davies said they will likely always be an ongoing issue for council. 

“City councils have nothing like that to contend with, it is by far the biggest cost we face. We, like all councils in the bush, would be able to spend $20 million tomorrow on our roads and bring them up to scratch,” he said.

Other projects that the Narromine Shire will see are $300,000 for the Narromine Aquatic Centre upgrade and $200,000 for improvements to footpaths in Narromine and Trangie.