Members of the Campbell’s Forest and District Community Action Planning Group say the area was once an area home to intensive agricultural production that has stopped as water became harder to source.

The group has been working towards building a business case to supply the locality with water for agricultural and household use.

A recent survey of 88 households in the surrounding area showed 18,571 hectares of land that would benefit from the supply.

Read more: Three pipelines but not water: the fight to get connected

Vice-president of CFDCAPG Ann-Maree Davis said this parcel of agricultural land would have improved yield with access to a secure water supply.

Ms Davis described a water supply as “absolutely essential” to the viability of the Campbell’s Forest community.

“Secure water supply would mean a lot to our community in terms of economic development and employment,” Ms Davis said.

“We want to keep people in rural locations and we want to assure that we can meet the production needs locally.”

The group has been campaigning for a secure water supply for almost 20 years.

There are three pipelines nearby, all about five kilometres away. Each is owned by a different water corporation.

Ms Davis said the need for water has become more acute in recent years, when rainfall has been lower.

Read more: Hotter more often as warming trend hits Bendigo

She moved to Campbell’s Forest with her husband three years ago, to pursue a paddock-to-plate “dream” for their Bendigo restaurant.

But they haven’t been able to realise this simply because they don’t have enough water.

While some farmers have tried to secure their own supply by tapping into groundwater, the water they’ve found has a high salinity.

“Up until about 30 years ago there was fairly good shallow groundwater supplies,” Ms Davis said.

“With climate change, so lower rainfalls over extended periods of time, that resource is not replenished.”

Over the summer power outages, affecting water pumps, have compounded the issue. Many residents have been unable to feed their stock, or even flush their toilets.

Ms Davis’ biggest concern is that the locality doesn’t have a water supply set aside to fight fires.

“We don’t have a dedicated water supply for firefighting purposes. Many farmers have damns that are empty,” she said.

“Houses will be lost.”

Goulburn-Murray Water has been approached for comment.

Have you signed up to the Bendigo Advertiser's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in central Victoria.