Why would you let water flow past farmers for the sake of fish? Mayor Phyllis Miller has asked.
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The mayor has added her voice to calls to reconsider water regulations following the release of 22 Gigalitres of water from Wyangala Dam to the environment in September.
Wyangala Dam now sits at just 18 per cent and Water NSW last week announced it was putting plans in place to ensure water supply for towns through to June, and possibly October, even in the worst-case inflow scenario.
"I agree with the Deputy Premier, John Barilaro," Mayor Miller said, referencing metropolitan media reports.
"I think it's high time to re-prioritise people over the environment.
"Why let this valuable water just flow on past desperate farmers just for the sake of some fish?
"It is time that agriculture and farming families social well-being be taken into account when there is water sharing."
The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office has issued a statement in response to the public concerns, stating the introduction of dams and weirs has reduced the size and variability of natural flows in winter and spring.
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"Rivers to the north and west of the Lachlan have been suffering from a lack of flows with rivers drying up and fish deaths occurring," the statement said.
"Environmental water was recovered for the purpose of avoiding further damage to the environment - especially in times of drought.
"In the Lachlan system, we have delivered water for the environment to build resilience in case conditions get worse, and to provide drought refuge when there is none further north."
Lachlan Valley Water's Mary Ewing said the organisation accepted that the Office, like any other licence holder, could use that environmental water as they chose, but that taxpayers would like to see evidence supporting their decision.
That includes whether the river would indeed have run under these drought conditions, and what monitoring they are doing to show what benefit that water is delivering.
"We've only had 108,000 ML of inflows in total in 2018-19, 88,000 ML into the dam and 20,000 ML downstream," Ms Ewing said.
"We've only had 9000ML inflows this (financial) year. But WaterNSW allow for 180,000 ML/year to run the Lachlan."
