Emergency water restrictions hit Clermont after Theresa Creek Dam pump failure

Residents of Clermont in central Queensland are under emergency water restrictions after both pumps at Theresa Creek Dam failed on Monday. The town was alerted by text on Tuesday afternoon, as officials moved to conserve supplies and support the local network with tanker deliveries. The dam provides raw water to Clermont, a town of about 3,000 people, around 290 kilometres south-west of Mackay and 940 kilometres north-west of Brisbane.

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Isaac Regional Council said one pump has been replaced and short-term repairs are under way on the other. Council staff are refilling water tanks and monitoring water quality, while divers have been in the dam investigating the cause of the failures. The council also said the second pump will be fully replaced once Clermont's water supply has returned to normal levels.

The restrictions allow residents to flush toilets, bathe, drink and cook, but outdoor water use is not permitted. A tanker at the Isaac Regional Library has extra water available for residents, and the council said people had almost halved their water use by Tuesday afternoon. Town consumption fell to 15.4 litres per second, down from almost 30 litres per second on Monday afternoon, while water levels in council storages rose by 15 per cent on Tuesday morning.

The disruption matters because Clermont is already dealing with repeated pressure on its water system. Council said this is the fifth serious water infrastructure issue in the Isaac region in recent months, and residents were warned last month to conserve water after a failure at the town's water treatment plant. The latest incident adds to concerns about the resilience of local water infrastructure in a region where multiple areas have had to truck in water in recent months.

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The council thanked residents for reducing demand, but some locals said the ongoing problems were frustrating. One resident said the town had been on restrictions for months or more because of repeated issues, and questioned the cost of water rates. The comments reflect the wider impact of the outage, which is affecting daily routines as well as confidence in the system that supplies the town.

What remains unclear is the exact cause of the pump failures and how long full repairs will take. Council has said work is continuing, but it has not given a timeline for when normal water supply will resume. The next developments will depend on the repair effort, the investigation in the dam and whether conservation measures are enough to keep Clermont supplied in the meantime.

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