Council has said good management has secured water for most of the shire but restrictions remain possible at Brogo and Cochrane Dams, which are not owned by council.
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However, Bemboka town water users will not have water restrictions implemented at this stage because of the small impact they would make on overall dam levels, council decided at its meeting on December 11.
Cochrane Dam in the headwaters of the Bemboka River, recently reached its drought reserve level of 500ML of a total capacity of 2700ML. The dam is a privately owned hydro-electricity generation facility. Council has a water sharing plan for the Bemboka town supply which averages 0.18ML per day out of a total release of 3.5ML per day, the remainder being used for environmental flows, irrigation and stock use.
Council staff had proposed water restrictions but admitted that any restrictions would target only 0.3 per cent of water released per day. Council's acting director assets and operations Chris Best said that often restrictions produced a spike in water use as people feared further restrictions along the track.
It was agreed that council should write to ministers seeking modification to water management arrangements for urban water sources that it does not control including Brogo Dam and Cochrane Dam to increase urban water security.
Council also has water sharing arrangements with the state government owned Brogo Dam where 65ML are used a day for irrigation and the environment and 1.5ML are used for town water in the Bermagui area.
Brogo Dam is currently at 33 per cent and Mr Best said that under a worst case scenario restrictions for water users could come into force in January depending on weather conditions.
"When it reaches 13 per cent then the state regulator instructs downstream users not to irrigate and the water will be for stock and domestic use only," Mr Best said.
There was talk of how to improve the water security at Brogo Dam with Cr Tony Allen suggesting it would be an achievable goal to put five or six metres on the Brogo Dam, something that would need state government assistance.
In other parts of the shire there are no such worries with the Yellow Pinch Dam currently sitting at 74 per cent, Ben Boyd Dam at 89 per cent and the Bega aquifer supply for Bega/Tathra.
