Lyn and Daryl Meehan have run sheep and cattle on their small property called Lakeside for eight years. They rely on pumping from the weir for everything from watering their stock to household supplies like the toilet. But Daryl jokes they ought to rename the property "mudside".

Since around January, when it was full, the council has been pumping water out of the weir. The watercourse is now surrounded by mud and the river that runs through it is not flowing. The Meehans said they have never seen the weir so low.

Lyn says they could be forced to buy water from town, or to destock their cattle if the watercourse drops any further, which is likely given prevailing drought conditions. Fish in the river, which contains both trout and redfin, could be completely wiped out if the weir dries out entirely.

Council officer Keith Appleby said the council plans to continue pumping for another few hundred millimeters.

"The water in the shallow parts of the Beardy Weir is lost to evaporation in any case if it is not used," he said in a statement sent to press.

"According to the drought management plan we pump down to 1.5m below top water level and then cease pumping. The level is currently at 1150mm below top water level, so we are getting close to that point now."

He acknowledged that pumping was speeding up the drying up of the river.

On the other hand, it isn't speeding it up very fast, because the weir evaporates very quickly. Mr Appleby estimates that the pumping only empties the weir at about twice the normal rate of evaporation, while preserving water in the off-stream storage system.

Basically because the water will evaporate anyway, we might as well drink it. He described a "use it or lose it situation".

The Eerindii ponds are narrow and deep and evaporate much slower.

But the environmental and social cost of a dead river is real (the Eerindii ponds have fish in them, but have no social use)

​The Meehans pump water from the weir from two windmills to a tank they use to gravity-feed water to troughs in their yard. They also use it for household water. Around six other farmers adjoin the pond and walk their cattle down.

"To save water for the last couple of months we have been using the washing up water, our shower water," she said.

They may as well have not bothered. The weir has been dropping by six inches a day for three months.

"(It's the) same as the Murray Darling that everyone's carrying on about," said Lyn.

"I often thought of ringing a Current Affair and saying get up here and have a look at this!"

There is no restrictions on water consumption at the moment, because the town has two years' supply in reserve. That means the shire continues to sell water for use in concrete in the Tenterfield shire at the Bolivia hill project.

Now that the river is nearly empty the Meehans want the council to dredge the weir. They estimate there are four feet of silt and gunk at the bottom, reducing its ability to store water when floods come. Council plans to dredge the river in as little as a fortnight, assuming plans to do so are approved by councilors.

In a statement, the council's Director of Infrastructure Keith Appleby said urban water supplies take priority over all other water extractions.

"The Beardy Weir only exists for the purpose of town water supply," he said.

"The Eerindii Ponds were developed solely for the purpose of extending the security of the Glen Innes water supply.

"Water is currently available from the saleyards standpipe to whoever wants to buy it, including contractors engaged on the Bolivia Hill bridge project, as water restrictions are not in place."

He pointed out that there are two years of water supply available in the off stream storage system at current usage rates, so there was little need for water restrictions.

"In addition we have the option to install another bore water supply. This is an incredibly secure supply, and we can afford to attract business and residential growth through not having water restrictions in place when other town supplies are near failure."

He also criticised what he said was an unreasonable expectations of farmers. The weir was not built in order to provide water for adjoining farms, he said.

"It's a bit rich for them to be complaining that we should be leaving for them to use at higher levels."