Timeline of SydneyWater Outage – Epping Road Lane Cove

Updated 14 September 2022

From 6.45 am on Saturday 10th September 2021 until 14 September 2022 some Lane Cove residents were severely impacted by a Sydney Water outage due to a burst water main at Epping Road Lane Cove.

Through that time you may have been checking our website for updates and we are sorry that it looks like there has been no activity on this page.  As you know may or may not know In the Cove was founded by Jacky Barker a Lane Cove Resident who writes all the articles with the help of Renee Maxwell.  We have limited resources BUT since about midday on 10th September we have been working on the Lane Cove Water Outage non-stop and providing updates on our Facebook site.  As we have limited resources, we did not have the ability to write a story and do all the updates.  Below is just a quick summary of what happened.   We will provide more when we can but wanted our readers to know that we have been trying to assist Lane Cove and our readers as much as we can.  Please ignore typos etc – I have had very little sleep over the last couple of days.

In the Cove has been the only media covering this incident from the start.   It sure goes to show the benefit of local news and why I am now a director of the Local and Independent News Association which has been fighting for more resources for local news. I have also been so grateful for the support of Lane Cove local and former Director of Editorial Standards at the ABC – Alan Sunderland who has been fighting to make local news heard.  He has been a mentor and such support.

ITC is solely funded by the amazing Lane Cove Business and some lovely Lane Cove residents who make a small monthly sponsor payment (we are not paywalled they just help out usually $5 or $10 a month sponsor here) or buy us a coffee.

Mainstream media only became interested in this issue when traffic started building up on Epping Road for the Monday morning commute.  Sorry, I am on my high horse here, but it is devastating when Facebook takes down your page last year like all other media and then agrees to pay money to media under the Media Bargaining Code but only to media that makes $150 000 a year (which I can only dream about).    I have been trying to raise money to employ staff and I have a policy of employing parents who want to be able to work but still have some hours left in the day to do all the family-related matters.

Here is a quick timeline – It will of course be updated, and a full report provided when we can.

Saturday 10 September 2022

6.40 am (approx)  A resident heard a loud banging noise when the water main burst.

6.45 am –  Live Traffic publishes an Incident Report – Burst Water Main on Epping Road

7.00 am – Parkland Avenue residents report extensive water on the road.  NSW Police arrive and tell them that it will be a few days before it will be fixed.  Residents report Sydney Water Crew did arrive later that day and try and fix it.

7.45 am – Residents in Fitzsimmons Avenue (the street closest to the burst pipe) started to notice they did not have water.

8.58 am – Traffic and Highway Patrol Command – NSW Police Force posted the following on their Facebook page.

Road Hazard Epping Road at the intersection of Mowbray Road, Lane Cove West.

A burst water main in properties overlooking Epping Road has resulted in both directions of Epping Road at the intersection of Epping Road with Mowbray Road being affected by a large volume of water, with some sections very deep. Motorcyclists are advised to avoid the area, and there will be some delay to other motorists. Police from Ryde HWP and North Shore Command are in attendance, in addition to other emergency services. At this stage, there is no estimated time of repair of the main.

Around 9.am – Residents in Fitzsimmons Avenue report they have now water and start trying to find out information from Sydney Water.

12.00 pm –  Sydney Water has still not released any information on their social media pages or a media statement.  The statement on their website water outage page only notes the following:

LANE COVE, NORTH RYDE,

Our crews are responding to a burst water main that is affecting water supply and water pressure to customers in the area.  We will restore the supply as quickly as we can.

3.46 pm  – Traffic and Highway Patrol Command – NSW Police Force respond to a comment on their page and state:

This is a very large main to commercial premises and residential flats premises, and causing a very large amount of water to flow as a result. Drains were partly compromised by the accumulation of debris, but this has since been cleared. Nevertheless, the drains still cannot cope, as they simply aren’t designed to handle this volume of water.

The irony is that NSW Traffic Patrol are providing more information about the cause of the issue than Sydney Water.

4. 30 pm – ITC contacts Anthony Roberts’s Office and advises them that we cannot get any information out of Sydney Water.  Their office starts trying to get information and contacts Sydney Water.  They also can not get any information.  They are told that someone will contact ITC and give us a media update.

4.41 pm – Sydney Water finally releases an official media statement to ITC below

10/09/22 – STATEMENT – Epping Rd, LANE COVE

Sydney Water has responded to reports of a burst water main at Epping Rd, Lane Cove.

Network technicians are onsite and are working to isolate the main.

An investigation into the cause of the break will be conducted.

During most of the day on 10 September 2022 Lane Cove North/Lane Cove West and parts of Lane Cove and Ryde have no water or very low water pressure (nearly equivalent to no water) and they cannot even flush their toilets.   They are all contacting Sydney Water via phone or trying to go on the website to be provided with information – no information is being provided.  There is no timeframe and residents don’t know how to plan.  In the Cove is posting updates on our Facebook page trying to give out as much info as we can.  However, information is not being provided.

Sunday – 11 September 2022

Early Morning:  Sydney Water outage page now notes that 8 suburbs are impacted

7.00 am ITC contacts Lane Cove Mayor Andrew Zbik to discuss a crisis emergency plan and what steps can be taken for Lane Cove Council to be involved and provide assistance.  Lane Cove Council has no information from Sydney Water.

7.22 am – Sydney Water Media provide an update to ITC that has no information other than they are working very hard on the issue.  Crews are all round Lane Cove and working hard but because Sydney Water not providing any information no-one is aware of the issue.

During the day Sydney Water CEO is providing updates to Anthony Roberts stating that there should be “normalcy around late afternoon”.  They are then told it will be back by 7pm.  By 7pm no water and more customers impacted.

Sydney Water advises they will provide tankers to Lane Cove and one or two start arriving.  However when they tried to put the water into the mains – the stopcock broke and water flushed down the streets and into houses.  The tanker driver then had to stay so people could get buckets of water.  The driver slept in the tanker

9.05 pm – the Sydney Water website crashes as customers wanted information and they could not find any updates

12 September 2022

8.09 am – Anthony Roberts arranges for ITC to speak to the CEO of Sydney Water and explain the lack of communication and the stress it is putting on locals who cannot shower or go to the toilet.  This seemed the only way that Sydney Water would believe the extent of the problem.

The CEO tells ITC that only 200 businesses and residents were impacted.  ITC tells him this could not be the case and provides info gathered from comments, emails and texts I have been receiving.  Told him tankers had to be sent to Lane Cove North and more information has to be provided.

ITC said that I could not believe that where there are widespread water outages impacting multiple suburbs that Sydney Water has not provided any information on its water outage page, Facebook, Twitter or any form of communication.  It was the worst communication I have seen from any utility company, company or government body in my experience (background here – I have been Group General Legal Counsel and Compliance Manager for an ASX Listed Company so I do know a bit about crisis management as we had to have training).

Sydney Water starts to update its website and Facebook page with status reports.

The first update with specific information for customers was put on their website at 10.50 am (2 full days and some hours after the issue first took place).

There are houses in the Lane Cove Council area that have had no water since Saturday 10 September 2022.  ITC is still getting calls from locals saying they have no water – in fact, they have water, but the pressure is so low they cannot use the shower or the toilet.

UPDATE: 2:15pm 13 September 2022

Sydney Water crews are continuing to work around the clock to return normal water supply as soon as possible. We appreciate your continued patience and apologise for the significant inconvenience caused.

Due to the complexity and location of the break, there may be ongoing interruptions to water supply across a number of suburbs. Customers in Lane Cove and Longueville are expected to be impacted with low or no pressure throughout the day.

Showers are now available to impacted customers while we continue to work to restore services to full capacity.

For residents who have no water service please call the Sydney Water Customer Hub on 13 20 90 to discuss options for showers.

We understand there has been a delay in rectifying the issue, but we are committed to finding a solution as quickly as we can in order to restore services to impacted properties.

Again, we thank you for your patience and apologise for the inconvenience caused.

14 September 2022

Some locals have gone to bed on 13 September 2022 without water.

Sydney Water releases the following statement:

 

Sydney Water starts using promoted posts on Twitter (where users have been very pointing out the lack of communication) to inform customers that water has been fully connected.

Sydney Water sends a text to customers who had logged a service complaint or where they had customer details and provided the following information.