Its Dubbo-based media manager Tony Webber reports of a multifaceted strategy expected to extend outflows for the next "nine to 12 months".

WaterNSW previously predicted the dam would become an unreliable source of town water from mid-2020.

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Mr Webber has reiterated that sufficient winter/spring rain has "failed to materialise" in the past three years, reducing inflows into the dam to "almost zero".

He was speaking this week after WaterNSW awarded Seymour Whyte the $6.7 million contract to pump a "vital" 16 gigalitres of remnant storage water from the dam.

"This is a crucial part of our strategy to ensure that surface water is extended for town water and critical supplies long enough to let other solutions come on track and by that we're talking specifically about the $30 million the NSW government has allocated to augment Dubbo's groundwater supply," Mr Webber said.

"Gradually restricting flows" and a likely bulk water transfer from Windamere Dam to Burrendong Dam in early 2020 also form part of the strategy.

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Mr Webber said restricting flows appeared to be slowing the depletion of water in Burrendong Dam.

He said on Monday WaterNSW "cut supply" to Gunningbar Creek, a tributary of the Bogan River, after imposing "earlier restrictions in the lower reaches of the system..to further reduce transmission losses".

"These are unprecedented measures," Mr Webber said.

"We are certainly not blind to the hardship that this presents to landholders who will no longer have access to river water.

"We are working with these landholders to give them advice about what the future looks like and time to identify alternative supplies."

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The dam is sitting at three per cent capacity but Mr Webber says the strategy will provide "sufficient water to get us well beyond winter which is when dam storages in this area are typically replenished".