Bores for the Home and Garden in Griffith

Watering a garden or stock from a bore at home sits inside basic landholder rights, with one catch: the bore itself still needs its approval. The NSW Department says no water meter is required for a bore used only for household and stock rights.

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What bores for the home and garden in Griffith actually involves

The Department's own questions-and-answers page says a water meter is not required for a bore used only for domestic and stock rights, and that if the bore is also used for other kinds of regulated water take, a meter may be required under the non-urban metering rules. It also says household use and non-intensive stock watering need no water access entitlement and no water use approval. Building a groundwater bore is the part that needs a water supply work approval.

Say what the water is for

NSW Fair Trading says the consumer guarantees mean a service is reasonably fit for any purpose the customer specifies, and any resulting product is fit for that purpose as well. So say plainly whether the water is for a vegetable patch, a lawn or stock troughs, and whether anyone expects to drink it.

A hose watering a backyard vegetable patch with a small pump housing at the edge — bores for the home and garden, Griffith. Illustrative example.

Before the garden tap

Groundwater is untreated, and a 2016 NSW fact sheet says it should not be considered safe for human consumption without proper treatment. Keep it off a kitchen tap until it has been tested. The water safety page sets out what NSW Health advises.

Around Griffith, a NSW Department of Primary Industries report from 2005 says the groundwater in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area in general is highly saline. Ask for a water test result before the water goes on anything you will eat; the report is regional and old and cannot speak for your address.

Tidy poly pipework and a pump inside a small garden shed — bores for the home and garden, Griffith. Illustrative example.

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