By Luke Voogt
A failure to plug a leak drenching front yards in Highton for five months has angered residents.
Porter Avenue resident Rod Fraser rang Barwon Water three times only to be “handballed from one person to another”, he said on Tuesday.
“We’re in the 21st century, how can’t they fix a water leak? It’s ridiculous.”
But the authority stated on Thursday that would fix the leak next fortnight, following Indy inquiries.
“It seems funny how all of a sudden things have happened,” Mr Fraser said on Thursday.
“It’s about time.”
Other neighbours had phoned to complain about water streaming into the street “24-7”, Mr Fraser said.
“The front yard of the house next to us is shockingly wet. They’ve rung to complain but nothing gets done – it’s pretty bloody ordinary isn’t?”
Barwon Water had scheduled a complex repair on the water main for next fortnight, infrastructure manager Paul Northey said on Thursday.
“We apologise for the inconvenience to these customers. They have done the right thing by contacting Barwon Water to report the issue several times.”
But the complexity of the repair prevented Barwon Water from resolving it sooner, Mr Northey said.
Barwon Water identified the pinhole leak in a main on South Valley Road, near the intersection with Porter Avenue and installed “a temporary fix” while planning repairs, he said.
But the fix broke and water had been travelling downhill through service conduits and pooling outside two properties in Porter Avenue since, Mr Northey said.
He said isolating the main could affect the thousands of customers which it services.
“The size and location of the main means the repair has to be carefully planned.”
He said Barwon Water would work with the customers affected by the leak to reinstate the nature strip and front yards if required.
