A long-running disagreement between the Tharwa community and the ACT government over the village's water will hopefully be resolved by an inquiry announced on Thursday.
The inquiry, moved by Liberal member for Brindabella Andrew Wall, received tripartisan support and now sits with the standing committee on environment, transport and city services.
The Tharwa community has resisted government proposals to build significant water infrastructure in the village, after it was told it would solely be for firefighting purposes.
Tharwa Community Association president Kevin Jeffery welcomed the upcoming inquiry saying it was important to put a hold on the current project, and its associated expenditure, until all options were considered.
"We want a thorough understanding of what all the options are and what value they'll bring to the community," Mr Jeffery said.
Tharwa is not connected to town water and has managed in the past thanks to the community funding and managing its own water system which is pumped from the Murrumbidgee River.
Mr Jeffery said the water was used for gardens, public toilets and bushfire protection. But as it was the original system, dating back about 100 years, it had been steadily deteriorating and required upgrading.
He said the government's original plan for upgrading the water system was solely for use by urban firefighting and involved installing hydrants along the main street at a cost of more than $2 million.
Tharwa's heritage status means there are significant restrictions on development in the village and the government's proposed water infrastructure would ruin the character of the village, Mr Jeffery said.
The proposal, he said, was not serving a need, considering there's been two house fires in Tharwa in the last 100 years, and didn't provide value to the community, at great ratepayers expense.
"[The proposal] gets cut down so the community gets no value out of it," Mr Jeffery said.
"If we could get a grant we could do a decent upgrade of our own stuff for much less money."
He hoped the inquiry would put all options back on the table and give proper reasons for why any might not be possible.
Mr Wall said he was pleased the inquiry received support from all the political parties.
"This inquiry is long overdue and will consider the immediate need to ensure a safe supply of water to protect Tharwa from fire. It will also consider the need for a secure drinking water supply," Mr Wall said.
"The common goal should now be to preserve the character of Tharwa and its historical value as we prepare for the future."
Timing of when the inquiry will receive submissions and consider its recommendations will be set by the standing committee's members which are Tara Cheyne, Candice Burch and James Milligan.
