Rumours the nation first scheme may end up costing $2 million more than originally anticipated have surrounded the project for several days but were quickly put to rest yesterday by acting general manager Chris Devitt.

Mr Devitt circulated a memo to all councillors to inform them that while the final cost of the project would only be known once tenders had been completed, council staff were confident the final bill for the ambitious project wouldn’t greatly vary from the $4.9 million budget set in April this year.

The memo also said that further detailed design work by council staff had shown the harvesting system would yield 38 per cent more water than early estimates that put the yield at 1600 megalitres a year.

“There is no cost blowout on this project. As reported to council, this project consists of a number of major components of work, which will be competitively tendered for, and until this process is completed, the actual final cost of the work is unknown,” Mr Devitt said.

“This [the cost blow out allegation] is extremely unfortunate as the staff involved in this project are working extremely hard to deliver this very complex project and allegations of this nature are particularly unhelpful.”

The stormwater harvesting scheme is believed to be the first of its kind in the country and has effectively been designed from scratch.

Council staff recently announcing it would be up and running by March next year.

A series of tenders for the projects have been released, with council expected to make a decision on successful applicants as soon as the expressions of interest time line expires.

The $4.9 million project has been funded to the tune of 50 per cent by the NSW State Government.