Latest update: Monday 28 September 2026
Since Friday’s Ronald Avenue burst, more mains have broken across Lane Cove and residents are reporting fresh leaks. Here is everything we know, street by street. Our thanks to Lane Cove MP Anthony Roberts, whose office has passed on Sydney Water’s updates, and to the readers who sent photos, videos and reports.
Sunday 27 September: Centennial Avenue and Cope Street
Sydney Water told Anthony Roberts’ office there were two separate main breaks in Lane Cove West overnight, affecting 61 homes.
Centennial Avenue at Burns Bay Road. The main burst just after midnight, opposite Jack & Co. 31 homes lost water, one house suffered water damage and a customer advocate attended to support residents.
Cope Street. A second break affected around 30 homes, with water flowing from a standpipe in the street. Sydney Water initially named the location as Currawong Avenue before correcting it to Cope Street.
Temporary supply was arranged, and Sydney Water warned lower than normal pressure could be felt across Lane Cove, Lane Cove West and Linley Point during repairs. The estimated restore time slipped from midday to 2.15pm. Sydney Water also told Mr Roberts’ office the Centennial Avenue burst was not related to Ronald Avenue.
Residents also reported the leak near the Parklands Avenue lights was still flowing on Saturday night, despite crews attending that afternoon.
Monday 28 September: more reports
By Monday morning, readers were reporting fresh problems:
Grace Street, where a reader sent video of a burst main.
Parklands Avenue, at the bottom of the street before the Epping Road lights.
Longueville Road, where water was pooling at 7am between Lane Cove Public School and St Michael’s.
River Road near St Vincents Road, Greenwich, where water has been running from a pothole since at least 20 September. Residents say crews were back on Sunday night, with overflow also seen at the corner of River Road and Greenwich Road.
These Monday reports come from residents and have not yet been confirmed by Sydney Water.
What we have asked Sydney Water
Why is Lane Cove experiencing so many burst water mains?
What impact will the five proposed data centres in Lane Cove have on ageing infrastructure?
Was a leak reported by a reader in Bushland Park in February 2026 repaired?
Has the leak at Parklands Avenue and Longueville Road been fixed?
Should Lane Cove expect low water pressure this week?
We will update this article when we receive a response.
Spotted a leak? Report it to Sydney Water on 13 20 90, then let us know where so we can keep track.
Photos and video: Chloe Gale, Marina Shevlin, Tim Rewell, Peter Sullivan.
Original story: Friday 25 September 2026
Up to 30,000 lower north shore residents are without water after a Sydney Water mains pipe burst in Ronald Avenue, Lane Cove.
Reports started coming into In the Cove at around 6.30am this morning (25 September 2026).
Sydney Water Burst Main
Sydney Water said a large water pipe burst on Ronald Avenue in Lane Cove. The main supplies water to Lane Cove and surrounding areas.
The outage is affecting residents in Lane Cove, Wollstonecraft, Greenwich, Artarmon and North Sydney.
“Up to 30,000 residents and businesses are experiencing either no water or lower water pressure,” Sydney Water said.
“The main is currently being isolated while urgent repairs take place,” Sydney Water said.
“Once the main is isolated and repairs are completed, water pressures are expected to return to normal by around midday,” Sydney Water said.
Crews are onsite and working to fix the issue.
Some locals have told In the Cove their water came back on at around midday today.
One Report of a Flooded Storage Area
A Lane Cove local has told ITC that his storage area has been flooded.
Impacting Lane Cove Bushland Park
The flood of water is impacting the beautiful Lane Cove Bushland Park, with the creek turned into a torrent from Kelly’s Flat upstream towards Ronald Avenue.
The photo below shows Lane Cove Bushland Park at 5pm yesterday on the left and at 7am today on the right.
Photo: Chloe Gale
Expect to Have Water Back On In a Couple of Hours
Anthony Roberts, Member for Lane Cove, has been in contact with Sydney Water. A senior executive told him at 12.30pm today that they had isolated the problem and there would be low water pressure or no water for a while, as they still had to fix one valve.
They expect water to be back in the next couple of hours.
Mr Roberts later said Sydney Water’s maintenance engineer had called him and crews were working to restore pressure across much of eastern Lane Cove.
By 5pm, Sydney Water told his office the main had been isolated, all properties had water again and pressure would continue to improve as the network was rezoned.
Leak Reported, but Faults Form Down
On Friday evening, a Lane Cove North reader contacted In the Cove about a leak at the corner of Parklands Avenue and Longueville Road. She had tried to report it herself, but Sydney Water’s online faults form was not working.
Local Cafés Hit
A customer advocate has been assigned to attend to the needs of business customers.
Locally, many coffee shops are closed.
However, The Cake Man, Garcon and Story still have water and are open for your coffee fix.
In a statement, Sydney Water said:
“Sydney Water apologises for the disruption and thanks the community for its patience while we work to restore normal operations.”
Third Outage in Three Weeks
A Greenwich resident told In the Cove this is the third time they have suffered a water outage in three weeks. When we spoke to them at midday, their water had just returned.
Lane Cove is no stranger to water outages. The most famous was on the weekend of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral. You can relive that outage here.
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