Our water wally!

By Dion Teasdale
EAST Warburton locals are accusing Yarra Valley Water of being a “wally” over its response to a leaking underground pipe.
Residents believe the pipe, near the corner of Riverside Drive and Big Pats Creek Road, in East Warburton, has been leaking for seven weeks.
Keith Rushton, of Riverside Drive, reported the leak to Yarra Valley Water on January 15 and said millions of litres of water had been wasted.
“Water from the pipe has been flooding the adjoining paddock for almost two months,” he said.
“The flooded area has been getting bigger and bigger, and the whole area is one big puddle hole.”
Mr Rushton said a contractor representing Yarra Valley Water visited the site of the leak within 24 hours of his report, but the problem was not properly fixed.
“The contractor had a dig around, put a plastic ribbon up and told neighbours the problem was sorted, but the water was still running as much as it was before the contractor came.”
Mr Rushton said the problem received no further attention from Yarra Valley Water until he placed another call with the water company last Friday, 3 March.
“A representative from Yarra Valley Water came out Friday night and said that because the contractor reported the initial problem as being fixed, the on-going problem wasn’t showing up on their computer,” he said.
Mr Rushton said he would like to see Yarra Valley Water review its procedures for checking work done by contractors.
“I think they need to take responsibility and check jobs after contractors have signed off on them.
“They need to stop this sort of thing happening again.
“If I contracted someone to do work on my behalf, I would check their work afterwards to make sure it was up to standard,” Mr Rushton said.
Another local, Barbara Yeoman, said Yarra Valley Water’s response to the leak was out of step with the State Government’s firm stance on water wastage.
“Mr Bracks spends so much money on advertising how precious every drop of water is, yet this problem hasn’t been fixed for two months,” she said.
“The amount of water that has been wasted, and the time it has taken for Yarra Valley Water to properly attend to this is unacceptable.”
Mrs Yeoman agreed with the sentiment of a sign posted on a tree close to the leaking pipe.
“The signs asks: ‘Who’s a Wally with water?’, and the answer they’ve put is ‘Yarra Valley Water’,” she said.
Ron Howard, of Big Pats Creek Road, said he is on water restrictions and is prohibited from watering his garden, and believed the water wastage was a disgrace.
“We are constantly told how precious our water supply is, so I’m very angry about the weeks and weeks of wastage,” he said.
Sam Austin, Yarra Valley Water’s general manager of asset services, rejected claims that the leaking pipe had been left unattended for seven weeks.
He said the company had received reports of leaks at two different addresses on Riverside Drive and that both had been repaired.
He insisted that one had been fixed on 16 January and the other on 6 March.
Mr Austin also defended the water company’s procedures for checking work carried out by contractors.
“Yarra Valley Water auditors perform random checks on work being undertaken,” he said.
“If customers notice a leak, or believe that it has not been attended to, they should contact Yarra Valley Water on 131 721 immediately.”