DUNGOWAN Valley residents will continue to push for an engineering option to solve issues around Dungowan Dam rather than be shifted from the area following a recent public meeting in the village.
About 70 people packed the Dungowan Hall for the Tamworth Regional Council-organised meeting with seven of the nine councillors and a representative from Hunter Water Australia attending.
Dungowan Creek and Valley Water Users' Association secretary Peter Bagshaw, "Beana Brae", Dungowan, said residents still hoped for a complete rethink of the scheme, which will see 11 properties purchased or homes moved to higher ground, and provide flood refuges to about 37 medium-risk properties.
"Council still wants to go ahead with original plans but our preferred option is engineering work on the dam to increase the spillway so a flood would pass over the spillway," Mr Bagshaw said.
The council's main concern - loss of life or unexpected dam failure - means relocating residents is the only option other than decommissioning the dam, according to the council's water enterprises director Bruce Logan.
"Upgrading the spillway capacity would reduce the risk of the dam failing during an extreme flood, but it would not reduce the number of lives potentially at risk downstream from that event, or an unexpected dam failure," Mr Logan said.
The meeting discussed alarm systems for the other 30 properties affected by an extreme flood, but residents said mobile phone coverage was safer.
Mr Logan said the three options were to improve the valley's mobile coverage, two-way radio coverage, or satellite communication.
Early indications show three more towers would be needed to improve mobile coverage at an estimated cost of $600,000 each, but funding could come from the federal or State governments as the Dungowan Valley was included in the federal government's mobile blackspot list.
"They've agreed to look at alternative methods of flood warning, specifically mobile phone coverage for the area," Mr Bagshaw said.
"That was the original proposal but council backed away from that because of the cost."
Malcolm and Nola Moore, "Waterfall", Ogunbil, are the most at risk from a flood or dam break.
The 648-hectare property, which the Moores manage for an absentee owner, is just 2km from the dam.
The Moores said they were not happy with the council's decision to acquire properties near the dam.
"We've already had the valuer general at the property," Mr Moore said.
"The owner is undecided what to do. He'll wait on the valuation."
Mr Moore said spillway upgrades completed in the 1980s had made the dam safe in an extreme flood.
"You talk to the people doing the dam and they say it's in perfect condition," he said.
"There are two spillways, one automatic one and an open spillway which comes to the top of where the automatic spillway works.
"That spillway was put in for a one-in-10,000-year flood, so why do we need to do all this?"
Mr Logan said council staff had met with 10 of the 11 high-risk property owners and staff were investigating options that didn't require the rezoning of property.