By Luke Voogt
Works commenced yesterday on a leak which drenched Highton front yards for five months.
Porter Street local Rod Fraser welcomed Barwon Water fixing the leak after speaking to the Indy a fortnight ago.
“It’s amazing when you guys get involved all of a sudden things start to happen,” he said.
Mr Fraser phoned the authority multiple times only to be “handballed from one person to another”.
“They had no bloody idea how to fix it when I complained, but now you’ve put something in the paper they’re doing it,” he said.
The leak had left his nature strip and property relatively unscathed, but “ruined” the front yard of a “lovely couple” nearby, he said.
Barwon Water commenced the works at the corner Bonsey and South Valley roads 7am yesterday and planned to finish repairing the main by 7pm.
The authority employed traffic management on South Valley Road, Bonsey Road and Porter Avenue as it repaired the main.
Barwon Water identified a pinhole leak in a main on South Valley Road and installed a temporary fix earlier this year, which later broke.
Water had been travelling downhill through service conduits and pooling outside two properties in Porter Avenue since, Barwon Water infrastructure manager Paul Northey said.
The main serviced about 7000 customers across Highton and Belmont, meaning the repair required significant planning, he said.
“While the works have been carefully planned to minimise the impact on customers, there might be a minor reduction in water pressure during the works.
“Our Operations team will be continuously monitoring pressure throughout the repair and have plans in place for an alternate supply to boost pressure if necessary.”
