The Minister for Western NSW recently vowed to support councils that want to use recycled wastewater to supplement their drinking supply.

Although the subject was considered "taboo" by some, Adam Marshall said he was willing to put his commitment on the record and encouraged all councils to consider it as an option, as water supplies across the state continue to dwindle.

Earlier in the year, the Wagga region came together to bring fresh drinking water to the drought-stricken town of Walgett after their supply ran out.

While some towns are facing a water supply crisis, Wagga remains secure said the Riverina Water County Council.

The RWCC has used 78 per cent of its 14GL groundwater extraction entitlements, and 60.5 per cent of its Wagga surface water entitlements. The full year's total treated water production increased by eight per cent from 2017/18.

The company's annual distribution analysis indicates 59 per cent of total consumption is residential, 14 per cent is commercial, seven per cent is rural, six per cent is industrial, educational institutions is five per cent and parks and gardens four per cent.

Riverina Water's general manager Andrew Crakanthorp said the council has never considered the use of treated sewage for household use or drinking water due to the "security of our existing water sources".

"A significant amount of research would be needed including discussions with water utilities in Australia and other parts of the world where wastewater has been treated so that it is used for drinking water purposes," he said.

An expert from a national research centre said while the city has secure water supplies, for now, it is time to ensure that the security is future-proofed.

Greg Leslie, director of the Global Water Institute at the University of NSW, said the concept of using recycled water is not new.

"[In some places] they introduced the second pipe system so that into a house you'd get water that was recycled for flushing toilets and use in sprinklers outside," he said.

"That problem with those schemes is it's costly because you're duplicating everything ... it gets tough to retrofit that to put it into existing homes."

Compared to the rest of the world, Professor Leslie said it is more complicated in Australia due to the cycle between extremely wet periods and incredible dry ones.

However, he said the country has gotten to the point where all the water needs to be put to its maximum beneficial use.

Professor Leslie said the ideal system, for which Wagga is perfect for, is to treat all sewage to the highest standard, then to filter it back into the environment where it can be reused.

"It's the most efficient way to manage the whole system from both a cost and an operations perspective," he said.

Professor Leslie said due to the number of residents in Wagga, and the ability to support infrastructure meant it was a feasible possibility for the city - albeit with significant research and community participation.

"The phrase that they use is tax base so that you've got enough residents where you can design, build and operate those potable, or recycling schemes, very efficiently and effectively," he said.

Professor Leslie said all options should be on the table to future-proof water security, especially as Wagga looks to grow as a city.

Professor Leslie said people often get bogged down in the misconception that it is "water from the toilet".

"The water that turns up in our taps, except for tiny country towns where they're on a bore or something, you know like that, it generally goes through a treatment plant," he said.

"The council in the towns will operate a plant that pulls water out of the river, generally put some chemicals in it to help all the silts and sediment flocculate and come out.

"Then they run it through sand filters, and they typically pass chlorine through it, and in some towns, they add fluoride as well."

Professor Leslie said when using recycled water to supplement the current supply, and the water would be collected from the sewage plant.

"So after we use the water in our homes, it goes to the wastewater treatment plant where it gets treated, and it already has to be treated before you can discharge it," he said.

"You then just put that water back in the system where you would pull it out to treat it again through the drinking water plant."

Ben Holt, environmental officer at ErinEarth, said discussions surrounding whether or not communities should begin to drink recycled water points to a broader issue. He said that, personally, he would not drink recycled sewage if there were other options.

"Having said that, I bet you if we were in a town now that was running out of water, I wouldn't be surprised if we were more ready to consider that option than what we would be otherwise," he said

Mr Holt said the water supply is facing pressures including increasing population, decreasing rainfall, and increasing temperatures.

"The market for what we make with our water is increasing, but the amount of water we seem to have, things are pointing to this, could be decreasing," he said.

"We have to match out our economic structure in the Murray-Darling basin to how much is available and not how much we want to be available. You need to employ a lot of economists to figure out how that would change."

Mr Holt said without a doubt the region, and Australia is facing a crisis as evidenced by stories of farmers in the media.

"I'm suggesting that the solution is not necessarily a technical one about recycling wastewater," he said.

"I'm suggesting that the most efficient solution to this challenge we have ... is through dialogue and where results from conversations between industry are actually shared widely in the community. I think if there's less tension change comes quicker."