By Marcus Uhe
South East Water (SEW) General Manager for Service Delivery Simon Willis has confirmed that a refund will not be offered to customers in the 580 South East properties affected by a water supply interruption on Wednesday 25 May.
Suburbs impacted by the disruption included Devon Meadows, Warneet, Cannons Creek and parts of Cranbourne.
Repair crews from SEW were called to investigate a heavy water leak in the nature strip at 155 Fisheries Road in Devon Meadows, arriving at 9.23am to find a large burst water pipe, Mr Willis said.
“Customers were pre-warned of the impending loss of water supply by SMS/email notification at 12.45pm, along with social media via Facebook and Twitter,” Mr Willis said.
“Water supply was turned off to affected customers at 1.40pm, whilst crews completed emergency repairs as quickly as possible.
“Water supply was restored to all customers by 4.45pm.
“Our crews then completed temporary works to reinstate the nature strip by 11.20pm.
“Crews will return in the coming days to complete permanent reinstatement works.”
While acknowledging that not having access to water for that period of time was “frustrating” for those customers,” Mr Willis said the repair crews work to complete repairs “generally within five hours”.
“When our repairs take longer than this compensation is offered to affected customers.
“In this instance our crews were able to restore water to customers within just over 3 hours.
“At South East Water we take our role of preserving your water supply seriously and we fix thousands of leaks and bursts each year, which are often caused by wear and tear.
“If you spot a water leak or burst, you can contact our 24/7 Faults and Emergency team on 132 812.”
