Forrestdale resident Rosa Rebello, alongside neighbours in her cul-de-sac, claims she has been experiencing tremendous difficulty recently with insufficient water pressure.
Fisher street, since 2024, has been struggling with its most basic water needs, she has said.
“Since that year, we’ve had issues.
The Water Corp have been out I don’t know how many times. Sometimes, we have literally just a drip of water, so you can’t have the washing machine on and run the tap at the same time.
“It’s not every day, but on certain ones. I know for a fact that at least six of us on Fisher Street have complained.
“I was told in 2024 that they needed to fix the main pipe and it’d be a major job, but they will do it in January 2025. It has never happened. There have been times when we’ve actually had no water at all,” she said.
“The issue is, they’ve said that it’s all within the legal requirements of water flow and pressure flow for the area, so there’s nothing that legally needs to change, but how can this be true if there are times when we’ve had no water flow whatsoever?”
Of particular concern to Ms Rebello is that she, and all residents on her street, have nonetheless been paying full price for water as a utility while this has been occurring, with some individuals having experienced increases in such bills recently. Ms Rebello’s most recent bill was $380.
A possible cause of the insufficient water flow may be insufficient diameter of the pipes, Ms Rebello claims.
“I looked into this, and our underground pipe in only 40 mm in diameter. This is less than the vast majority of other pipes, which usually have a minimum width of 50mm.
“Apparently, the current pipe was actually placed there in the 1970s, and at that time, there were only three houses on the street, now there are seven.”
Water Corp members have been out to the street to investigate several times, but Ms Rebello believes the timing of their visits was less than ideal.
“Peak time would be the right time to come because that’s when it would be the most obvious that the pressure is down. Really, it would be very hard to get any water flow then. Better still, if they came when we actually called them out for an issue, why did they not do a water flow test then?
“The bottom line is, they’ve done the test when they felt like it, not when we’ve actually run our water properly and said there’s an issue.
“The latest is that they will replace the main pipe on our street, but that will not happen until 2028, they say.”
Although the issue has affected all the street’s residents, Ms Rebello has been particularly proactive in pursuing the issue, having consulted the Energy and Water Ombudsman.
The ombudsman responded: “Water Corporation has recognised that the existing mains is undersized for the street, and as discussed, a project to upgrade the mains capacity/size is planned for 2028. Additionally, Water Corporation will apply a once off, $98 good will credit to Ms Rebello’s account recognising her frustration with the service she has been experiencing.
“Given the proximity to her residence, however, we are satisfied that this testing supports Water Corporation’s previous test results and that supply and flow rates comply with the standards set out in Water Corporation’s Operating Licence, specifying that a static pressure between 15 and 100 mH and a minimum flow rate of 20 litres per minute (lpm) at the meter outlet must be attained.”
Ms Rebello continues to push for more action, and a test at what she describes as properly peak water usage time.
