Rous County Council

Rous County Council is a county council constituted under the Local Government Act 1993. County Councils are different to local councils; they are specifically set up or delegated to provide one or more functions of a local council. This means that they have quite specific functions that they undertake for the local councils of the areas within which they operate. These Councils are referred to as ‘constituent councils’.

Rous County Council has three main functions:

Bulk water supply

It is the regional water supply authority providing water in bulk to the Council areas of: Ballina (excluding Wardell); Byron (excluding Mullumbimby); Lismore (excluding Nimbin); and Richmond Valley (excluding land to the west of Coraki). The regional supply network includes approximately 40,100 connections within the reticulation areas of these constituent Councils, and around 2,030 retail connections to the Rous County Council trunk main system. A population of around 100,000 is serviced by this water supply system with the actual area of operations being approximately 3,000km2. The principal source of our supply network is Rocky Creek Dam, situated 25 kilometres north of Lismore near the village of Dunoon.

Weed biosecurity

Council undertakes a wide range of activities to combat the spread of noxious weeds across the local government areas of Ballina, Byron, Lismore and Richmond Valley. Council also does this on behalf of Kyogle and Tweed Shire as part of a fee for service arrangement. Council is the Local Control Authority responsible for administering the Biosecurity Act 2015, working with landholders and the community throughout the region to address weed biosecurity matters.

Flood mitigation

Council is a flood mitigation authority operating across the local government areas of Ballina, Byron, Lismore and Richmond Valley. It is responsible for the construction and replacement of flood mitigation infrastructure including the routine maintenance of various canals and floodgates and related natural resource management activities.