How sweet the taste of fresh water to drink following two months of fires and floods.
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The drenching the region received last week saw the Brogo Dam jump from 10 per cent capacity to still spilling.
However, it brought with it sediment and debris due to the widespread bushfires making the water unsafe to drink.
BVSC last week took the extreme steps of beginning to cart all the water used in the Brogo-Bermagui system from Bega, and introducing Level 4 water restrictions for this system.
Up to a million litres a day - at a cost in the vicinity of $30,000 a day - is being trucked into the northern part of the shire.
While Level 4 restrictions remain in place, the Army's 2 Combat Engineer Regiment have set up their water purification and desalination system next to Brogo One Reservoir to help supplement the drinking water supplies.
Lance Corporal Mitchell Thorensen of the 2nd Combat Engineers, said he and his team have been on site for a week, purifying around 400,000 litres of drinking water every day.
"This is the best experience we can get honestly," the lance corporal said.
"Performing an operational job on water - we're the only people we know who have done it. Here and on Kangaroo Island are the only two places it has happened on this operation.
Lance Corporal Thorensen said he was based at Enoggera in Brisbane, and the drive to the Bega Valley in the large Army vehicles was also an interesting opportunity.
"It was good driving experience for the boys. we got a few toots every now and then which is a good morale boost for us as well."
The Brogo River catchment is primarily for agricultural needs, but also supplies drinking water to households in Quaama, Cobargo, Bermagui, Beauty Point, Fairhaven, Wallaga Lake, Wallaga Lake Heights, Akolele and Wallaga Lake Koori Village has been extremely compromised.
BVSC water and sewer manager Chris Best said the WPDS can turn any water source into fresh drinking water.
"Australian Army WPDSs are normally used to supply drinking water during major ADF exercises and deployments, but in this case, it will produce up to 400,000 litres a day - 40 per cent of our target volume - for the Brogo-Bermagui supply," Mr Best said.
"This will obviously dramatically reduce the cost to the community and be a terrific help while we continue to work on a longer-term solution.
"Brogo Dam is still overtopping, but the quality of the water in the catchment has improved massively over the past week after it was filled with sediment, ash, soot and debris following the rain; and the re-commissioning of Couria Creek Weir is complete.
"We are making great inroads, but we are planning on also installing a temporary filtration system as a further security measure.
"It is a somewhat perverse situation we find ourselves in as we are about to go to tender for the design and construction of a permanent water treatment plant for the Brogo-Bermagui system, which will provide additional critical control points and multi-barriers to water quality hazards and greatly reduce the reliance on treatments such as chlorine.
"The important thing at present though is we are still able to supply clean water to all our communities."
Under level 4 water restrictions, water may only be used outdoors for essential health and safety purposes. The use of water outdoors for garden watering, washing cars and boats, or for any other purpose is not permitted.
"Figures from the past week show that water use is down, and we can't thank the community enough for the effort that is collectively being made," Mr Best said.
"Please continue to think about how long you spend in the shower and how often you run your washing machine and dishwasher - every drop you save helps secure our water supply.
"We acknowledge the difficulty this situation has created for many people and businesses and we are very appreciative of your understanding and cooperation during this difficult and challenging time."
For more information on water across the shire, visit www.begavalley.nsw.gov.au/water