Water alert lifted

The boil water alert was lifted on Monday, after 28 days under guidance to avoid using town water for washing vegetables, drinking water and rinsing.

While water was safe for showering and bathing, guidance recommended avoiding ingesting the water, after heavy rains 'compromised' the local water treatment plant in early January.

Hilltops mayor, Margaret Roles, said water quality has been a concern in Boorowa for more than 50 years.

"It's always been hard water and, although it meets the minimum standard for potable water, people's expectations are rising all the time," she said.

Cr Roles said the town's growing population, thanks to its popularity with tree-changers who left cities during the pandemic, has strengthened the business case to extend the pipeline from the Murrumbidgee River and Harden, to Boorowa.

Cr Roles said the cost of extending the line another 10km could be up to $60m.

"Because Hilltops is now 20,000 people and a growing area, we have a much better case to plan for the future," she said.

At Jeremy Clarke's wine bar, bottled water is on the menu for ice, cocktails, dishwashing and cleaning. After hauling a four-litre jug of water on top of the bar, Mr Clarke joked that his biggest revenue stream is now from recycling plastic water bottles.

"The thing in bars, you're always rinsing," he said.

"It's a massive hassle with the salad greens, rinsing your implements before they go in the dishwasher ... no hospitality place around here serves tap water."

Bottled water is still popular among residents as an alternative to the 'highly mineralised' water from the Boorowa River. For some, it has become tender for bartering.

James Blackwell, an academic researcher, paid for second-hand goods on Facebook Marketplace with some of his water supplies.

"I joked with [the seller] and I said, 'I can pay cash or I can pay in bottled water'," he said.

"She said she hadn't been to the shops yet, so she took the bottled water."

Mr Blackwell started bringing his own bottles to his workplace in Canberra and filling them from the free filtered water stations in the office.

"I was there with a giant Ikea-type bag with bottles of water and people were wondering what I was doing," he said.

The state MP for Cootamundra, Steph Cooke, says the lack of safe water is "unacceptable and unfair"

"We have the right to safe and secure drinking water and we have the right to thrive and grow," she said. "Not only are we unable to service current residents, we have even less hope under the current circumstances of supplying [water] to new residents. It's holding back the growth and development of Boorowa."

The federal member for Hume, Angus Taylor, said water quality in the town is a "longstanding issue."

"It's imperative these water quality issues are resolved as quickly as possible," he said.

The NSW water minister, Rose Jackson, said there is "no quick fix" to the town's complex water issues. But she says technical experts from her department will "work closely" with the local council into the future.

"Delivery of clean and reliable water to the community is a key responsibility of the local water utility but we most certainly all have a role to play and we're doing everything we can to help them," Ms Jackson said.