Rockhampton Regional Council to provide a full emergency water supply to Mount Morgan

Around 20 truckloads of water a day will deliver drinking water from Gracemere to the Mount Morgan Water Treatment Plant, which will provide 160 litres of water per person per day.

This announcement comes after issues raised by residents about the taste and odour of the water coming from the dam.

Rockhampton Region Mayor Tony Williams has assured Mount Morgan community that the water is still very much safe to drink.

"We know that as the dam level has fallen - it's now sitting at 8.6% - residents have experienced a change in the taste of the water coming from their taps as the dam water continues to slowly deteriorate," Mr Williams said .

"We tried a number of things to tackle this, including bringing a few truckloads of water up a day and adding an extra step to our water treatment process.

"While there has been a small improvement it's not enough, so we will now start bringing this emergency water supply up from Gracemere."

In early March, the Council carried out successfully a trial to test the logistics of getting water tankers from Gracemere to Mount Morgan.

Related: Rockhampton Council's water trucking trial a success for drought-stricken Mount Morgan

The Council is currently taking six truckloads of water a day to Mount Morgan, and Mayor Williams said this will be ramped up to 20 over the next week.

"The State Government had been covering the cost of trucking water to Stanthorpe until their recent rainfall, and we are in discussions with them to do the same for the people of Mount Morgan," he said.

"This is a temporary emergency measure to ensure the residents have access to good quality drinking water, but Council is absolutely committed to finding a long term sustainable solution for Mount Morgan's water security and I am looking forward to the public meeting next Tuesday."

Water and Supporting a Better Environment Councillor Donna Kirkland said there would be no change to how people accessed their water.

"We knew this would be a possibility if there was no significant rainfall, so over a month ago we carried out trials to fine tune the arrangements and logistics of trucking the water up to ensure that we were ready to go," Ms Kirkland said.

"Around 20 truckloads a day will be driven up via the Razorback, with the water placed into the reservoir at the Mount Morgan Water Treatment Plant.

"There's no need for Gracemere residents to worry about their supply; we'll be sending extra water that way if required.

"The water will then be disinfected again just to make sure its quality is still high after the journey, and will then be distributed using the same water distribution system that supplies water to the Mount Morgan community now. You will be able to turn on your taps as normal.

"We will be able to answer questions about this, as well as exploring options for the long term water security of Mount Morgan, at the public meeting next week."

Divisional Councillor Cherie Rutherford said Council was listening to residents and taking action.

"Every call that's come through, every email that's been sent, and every conversation residents have had with us directly: they all play a really important role in our decision making," Ms Rutherford said.

"There is still enough water left in the dam for a few months, and once treated it's safe to drink, but we have heard what people have said about the change in the taste.

"We tried a range of things to address that taste, unfortunately from resident feedback it would seem these measures weren't as effective as we'd hoped. Once this trucking gets going residents should see a real difference.