IN SHORT

• Testing of Carrathool Shire's drinking water supplies in late December 2025 confirmed no PFAS contamination across any of the shire's water schemes, a result certified by the Public Health Unit in Wagga Wagga. 
• A 190-metre sewer main relining program in Hillston has been completed, covering 249 metres of inspection and cleaning along with fourteen property junctions and three major civil restoration works on High Street. 
• Extensive road maintenance work including gravel re-sheeting on Barrys, O'Keeffes and Wallanthery roads and maintenance grading across the local network was carried out during the reporting period. 
• A floc dosing system has been installed at the Palmyra pump station to improve water quality supplied to downstream customers from Murrumbidgee Irrigation channel water.

Carrathool Shire Council's infrastructure report for the period covering 22 November 2025 to 16 January 2026 was presented to the February ordinary meeting and covered a range of maintenance and capital activities across roads, water and sewer services that collectively represent the unglamorous but essential work of keeping a large rural shire functioning.

The public health headline from the infrastructure report is a reassuring one. In late December 2025 council again tested its drinking water for PFAS, the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances that have been linked to contamination at firefighting training locations across Australia and have been found at elevated levels in water supplies at numerous sites nationally. Test results certified by the Public Health Unit in Wagga Wagga confirmed no PFAS contamination in any of Carrathool Shire's drinking water supplies. For communities across the shire who depend on the council's water systems for their household water, that result provides important reassurance.

Work on water quality improvement has also been progressing at Palmyra. A floc dosing system has been installed and commissioned at the Palmyra pump station to treat the Murrumbidgee Irrigation channel water supplied to downstream customers including Goolgowi. The system works by applying a flocculant to the incoming channel water to cause suspended particles to clump and settle out, improving the clarity and quality of what reaches customers. Operators are conducting before and after water quality testing to track the results while council staff continue investigating longer-term options for improving the quality of channel water the shire receives from Murrumbidgee Irrigation.

Below the streets of Hillston, a significant piece of maintenance infrastructure has been completed. A sewer main relining program covering 249 metres of mains that were cleaned and inspected resulted in 190 metres of pipe being relined and fourteen property junctions restored, along with three major civil restoration works on High Street. Relining existing sewer mains rather than excavating and replacing them is a cost-effective approach that extends the life of ageing underground infrastructure without the significant disruption and expense of open-cut excavation.

Road maintenance across the reporting period was extensive. Gravel re-sheeting was carried out on Barrys Road, O'Keeffes Road and Wallanthery Road covering a combined 65,900 square metres of pavement. Maintenance grading was completed across a range of local roads and Polytahr stabilisation work continued across the network. On the regional road network, heavy patching was carried out on the Tabbita Lane and Rankins Springs Road corridors. Sign replacement, guidepost installation and pothole repairs were carried out across multiple routes. The urban maintenance schedule for the period recorded 918 total hours worked across Carrathool, Goolgowi, Hillston, Merriwagga and Rankins Springs, with Hillston accounting for 63 per cent of those hours.