Water distribution

Rous County Council distributes water from each water source after treatment to people all around the region.

Because your water is 'on tap', you may think that its source is very close to you. Think again!

Rous County Council operates over 410km of pipelines, more than 12 reservoirs and small tanks, and several pumping stations which distribute water to approximately 100,000 people. The system supplies water to many towns which include Lismore, Ballina, Byron Bay, Ocean Shores, Brunswick Heads, Evans Head, Coraki, Broadwater, Alstonville, Lennox Head, Bangalow and Woodburn.

Rous County Council is a bulk water supplier providing water to local reservoirs where the local council then takes over the job of distributing the water within their townships.

Rous County Council also has approximately 2000 of its own customers who are directly connected to the water distribution system. These connections are different to a connection within a local township as they are directly connected to a trunk main system, therefore these connections have varying pressure and flows. These trunk main connections allow many people within rural areas to have access to water who would otherwise have to rely on tank water or local creeks.

The water supply system is made up of:

• the drinking water catchments;
• dams;
• pumping stations;
• water treatment plants;
• pipelines and;
• reservoirs.

These are all managed by Rous County Council. For more information on our supply system, see the below sections.