Council general manager Ray Smith said the decision to truck water followed a hastily called meeting with concerned Euabalong residents last week.

“There were more than 60 residents at the meeting in Euabalong last Wednesday and a lot of their concerns were based on the lack of consultation, not from council but from State Water,” the general manager said.

“Also the fact that State Water had made the decision to stop the flow of the river at the Condobolin weir means no flow in the river through Euabalong.

“As a direct result of that we are now ready to commence carting water as of Thursday and will trial a process of trucking 25,000 litres each day – one load to Euabalong West and the second day to Euabalong.

“At present we can do it with one truck based on State Waters limitation of 150 litres per person per day.

“The water at the moment is coming from the Lake Cargelligo weir pool but we understand that source is limited so after that we are not sure where we will be carting water from when the river is cut-off at Condobolin.”

Mr Smith said Cobar Shire Council has been allocated a $150,000 grant from the State Government to trial some test bores which are currently being drilled.

“Hopefully they can find some bore water but it will not be the village’s total source of water – it will supplement what we are carting,” he said.

“There is a concern that any water we find may be salty anyway.”

Meanwhile, some Euabalong residents have called on State Water to limit and equalise the amount allocated to all communities along the Lachlan River.

The residents claim some town’s upstream from Euabalong are still allowed to use sprinklers while all outside watering at Euabalong has been banned.

Commenting on the issue, Mr Smith said water restrictions imposed by Cobar Shire Council at Euabalong and Euabalong West meant no hand held hoses but some bucket watering between 6pm and 10am.