THE river at Murrurundi is bone dry.
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The town’s water supply has been crippled by the drought.
Level six water restrictions mean there are no sprinklers, no blow-up pools and showers are restricted to three minutes.
So when word got around the local council was going to be unable to fill up the local pool for summer, residents were understandably shattered.
But Murrurundi Hotel & Kitchen manager Kylie Cross was having none of it.
She went straight to Upper Hunter Shire Council to ask what could be done.
“I’ve got a little one who’s three, but it was more listening to the community and everyone was not happy about it,” she said.
“Last season, that’s what the kids did around here.
“They go to the pool all through the holidays, they have their season passes and go back and forth all day.
“So I come up with a way we could help.”
After a bit of preparation, she made plans to borrow a water truck from Husky Group, owners of the pub, to cart water in from Scone and fill up the pool.
They spend all their time at the pool. They used to spend their time at the river, but it's completely dried up. The pool has been it for the last few summers. It is something the community needs.
- Kylie Cross, Murrurundi Hotel & Kitchen
With the council agreeing to pay for the water as long as the community could pay for haulage, summer at Murrurundi & District Memorial Pool could be rescued.
In recent weeks, the Husky Group truck – driven by local Bob Walton – has made the three-hour round trip to Scone to transport water back to Murrurundi’s town dam.
So far, about 800,000 litres of the 1.2 million litres needed has been brought in.
“We’re doing four trips a day at 25,000 litres, so we’re carting 100,000 litres a day,” Ms Cross said.
“There’s about four days to go and it’s costing $500 a day [in diesel].”
Ms Cross said water had already been transferred to the pool and a cleaning process was underway.
“They’ve emptied it, they’ve gurneyed it, they’ve filled it and now they’ll clean it while it’s full,” she said. “Then they’ll empty it again and fill it back up.”
The hotelier said residents were eagerly awaiting an opening in early December.
But, it would not have been possible without Ms Cross’ plan, the Husky Group, Murrurundi Hotel & Kitchen and the community support for fundraising.
