Published on 16 August 2026
Council currently has a Boil Water Alert in place in Dirranbandi for the town water supply’s normal blended mix of bore water and treated river water.
At 8pm on Saturday 15 August, Balonne Shire Council had a malfunction at the Dirranbandi Water Treatment Plant, which resulted in raw river water entering the water reticulation system in Dirranbandi.
Council immediately worked with disaster coordinators for an Emergency Alert SMS message to go to all mobile phones in Dirranbandi township, sent out an Emergency News update to subscribed emails through its Emergency Dashboard and put out a notification on it social media pages.
At 9am this morning, a pallet of bottled water will be delivered to the Dirranbandi Depot in Railway Street for use by local residents with a current limit of 4 bottles per person until additional water arrives.
Flyers will also be distributed to the town advising the residents of the need to boil water and where to locate extra supplies of bottled water.
Council is currently working to rectify the issues at the Dirranbandi Water Treatment Plant and will be working to flush the system and undertaking water testing to ensure the water meets Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.
Council will advise once the town’s drinking water is back to within standards, flushed through the system and is again safe to consume.
For updates on this matter, please go to the Emergency News tab on Council’s Emergency Dashboard at emergency.balonne.qld.gov.au