Lane Cove West residents endured a significant water outage on Saturday, 1st March 2025, triggered by a burst water main in front of 278 Burns Bay Road Lane Cove West (outside the Carol Chisholm Nursing Home).
Residents of Waterview Drive, Cope Street, Burns Bay Road, and Caroline Chisholm Lane were impacted.
Timeline
9.30 pm Friday 28th February 2025
A Waterview Drive resident notices water gushing down Burns Bay Road, and the water pressure is low in the apartments at 2 Waterview Drive. Sydney Water is informed of the low water pressure.
10.35 pm Friday 28 March 2025
ITC sent an urgent media request to Sydney Water asking for a statement on the burst water main – originally, it looked like the burst water main was outside the OTR Service Station on the corner of Penrose and Burns Bay Road Lane Cove – this was not the case this water issue had already been notified to Sydney Water and they had not had a chance to allocate a crew to fix that issue
2.25 am Saturday 1 March 2025
Sydney Water turns off water to impacted homes and apartments for urgent repairs.
Sydney Water’s website noted that 94 properties were impacted (this refers to connections rather than customers). However, this area of Lane Cove has numerous apartment blocks. One connection can be to an apartment block, but there are innumerable customers (for example, 280 to 288 Burns Bay Road has 86 apartments), so the number of customers affected was far more than 94 properties.
ITC was advised that 278, 280, 292 and 300ABC Burns Bay Road and units in Caroline Chisholm Lane were among the properties that lost water. Some other properties in Waterview Drive had low water pressure.
Sydney Water’s website noted that 94 properties were impacted (this refers to connections rather than customers). However, this area of Lane Cove has numerous apartment blocks.
One connection can be to an apartment block, but there are innumerable customers (for example, 280 to 288 Burns Bay Road has 86 apartments), so the number of customers affected was far more than 94 properties.
ITC was advised that 278, 280, 292 and 300ABC Burns Bay Road and units in Caroline Chisholm Lane were among the properties that lost water. Some other properties in Waterview Drive had low water pressure.
The Sydney Water Outage page does not recognise some addresses such as 2 Waterview Drive Lane Cove.
One resident who lives at 258 Burns Bay Road told ITC that they had low water pressure since 10.00 pm on Friday 28 February 2024 and no water since 12.00 am on Saturday 1 March 2024. There house was not one of the properties noted on the map above and the when they entered their house details into the Sydney Water Outage website page they were informed there were no known water outages in her area.
7.00 am Sunday 1 March 2025
Locals inform ITC that Sydney Water works outside 278 Burns Bay Road, and one lane of traffic on Burns Bay Road has been blocked off. The exact time the crews arrived in Lane Cove is unknown.
The Sydney Water crew works hard to identify the issue in hot conditions. A Sydney Water advocate was onsite to assist locals.
Locals report that the Sydney Water Operations Manager and Customer Advocate are extremely helpful and have told them that the repairs are complex in nature.
The Customer Advocate tells ITC that Drinking water has been or is being delivered to impacted homes, and Caroline Chisholm Aged Care has had an alternate supply provided through a standpipe.
The Footpath between Cope Street and Waterview Drive on the Eastern side remains closed.
12.58 PM 1st March 2025 Sydney Water Media Responds to Urgent Media Request
A spokesperson advises ITC the following:
“Sydney Water crews are responding to a burst water main on Burns Bay Road, Lane Cove.
Network Technicians have isolated the main and approximately 96 properties may experience lower than normal or no water pressure while repairs are underway.
Due to the complex repairs, normal water supply is expected to return by 4pm.
A dedicated customer advocate is onsite.
Sydney Water apologises for any inconvenience.”
7.00 am to 7.30 pm Saturday 1st March 2024
4pm 1st March 2025
The Sydney Water Hotline has a recorded message that the estimated time for water to be restored is 9.30 pm 1 March 2025
5.30. pm to 7.18 pm 1st March 2025
ITC posts the following update on our socials after the Operations Manager calls ITC to give an update (thanks to Thomas Shanahan for providing our details).
“ITC has spoken to the operations manager with Sydney Water.
The crews have been working very hard in difficult and hot conditions. They have managed to isolate the pipe at the southern end (i.e., Waterview Drive end), and water should be back on. The water will be brown, so you will need to flush the pipes. Turn on all your taps and let them run for a while. If brown water continues, please let Sydney Water know or comment below.
We have had reports of low water pressure in apartments at 2 Waterview Drive – if you can flush your toilet and take a shower, then the pressure is not considered low pressure, but water may be flowing slower. If you cannot flush your toilet or shower or water only drips from the tap then contact Sydney Water.
At the northern end (near OTR for example Cope Street and Caroline Chisholm Lane) they are still working on the pipe to isolate it – they hope to have that fixed in the next hour or so. Let us know when you have water back on at that end
They have not been able to do a complete fix as their pipes are located under gas pipes, NBN and Telstra – they will need to co-ordinate with those entities to ensure they don’t damage those services when undertaking a fix. They will also need to obtain a road occupancy licence from Transport for NSW and usually they are only permitted to work at night.”
Shortly after we posted the above residents in the impacted area nearer to Waterview Drive, the water supply started to return.
By around 7.18 pm, water is restored to the impacted area closer to the OTR Service Station.”
Community Effort
The Sydney Water Consumer Advocate was on site and attempted to deliver water to apartment blocks in the impacted area.
Staff from Anthony Roberts’ office, a member of the ITC team, delivered water to impacted residents, and Thomas Shanahan coordinated assistance for Waterview Drive. The comments on ITC made it obvious that the community was looking out for each other and assisting neighbours where they could. Residents were using their apartment’s Whatsapp group to keep each other up to date. In some apartment blocks residents were only experiencing low water pressure, while some residents had no water.
The following was posted on Lane Cove Chat by ITC
ITC just happened to be on the spot delivering water to residents when we saw Simon from Anthony Roberts’ office delivering water to residents in Caroline Chisholm Lane
ITC would like to thank one of our Team Members, Yumi Wong Pan, for her hard work during the water outage. Yumi and her son delivered water to impacted residents.
Communications Issues Sydney Water Corporate Office and Hotline
As in the past, Sydney Water’s corporate communication and the information displayed on its website were criticized. Residents expressed frustration with the Sydney Water hotline, reporting that calls were frequently routed to a recorded message and that they experienced difficulty speaking with an operator.
Even though a customer advocate was on site, not all locals were in a position to make contact with the advocate.
Numerous elderly residents live in the apartments at 300ABC Burns Bay Road, and they cannot walk to the work site. They rely on telephone communication.
When an impacted local did manage to speak to a Sydney Water hotline operator, they were told that if they needed water, they could buy the water, keep the receipts, and claim back the money from Sydney Water. This was not feasible for residents who did not have access to a car.
Summary
Sydney Water’s crews worked extremely hard to restore the water supply amidst challenging conditions.
The fixes made on Saturday, 1 March 2024, are only temporary, and this incident underscored the complexities of managing underground infrastructure and the number of other utility organisations that need to be contacted to ensure that Sydney Water can permanently fix the issue without impacting other services.
Clear communication and community engagement is essential in mitigating the impact of the outage.
The Sydney water hotline needs to handle a large volume of calls during emergencies.
The Sydney Water Website Outage needs to be updated when the list of impacted properties are know. As ITC has previously advised Sydney Water their outage map does not correctly identify the impacted properties. There is a big difference between 94 connections and the number of residences impacted by the outage.
From the comments made on In the Cove’s Facebook page, the number of residents impacted includes:
280 – 288 Burns Bay Road – 86 Units
290 Burns Bay Road – 39 Units
292 Burns Bay Road – 12 units
300ABC Burns Bay Road – 170 Units
Caroline Chisholm Lane – 20 Units
Caroline Chisholm Aged Care Facility
These figures were obtained from comments made by locals and have not been verified and do not include all units in Cope Street, Burns Bay Road and Waterview Drive that may have been impacted.
Rebates
Impacted customers may be entitled to rebates and ITC understands that Sydney Water has identified around 300 connections that might be eligible for rebates. Read more here.
Water Pooling Near OTR Service Station Corner of Penrose Street and Burns Bay Road
The water pooling near OTR Service Station has not yet been fixed. Sydney Water advised that this is a different issue.
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