THERE is no end in sight for the infamous Cohuna water leak that has seen many thousands of litres gush into the town’s stormwater system over the past seven weeks.
The rate of the leak is significant and is equivalent to several taps running at full strength.
Both Coliban Water and the Country Fire Authority are denying responsibility for the broken pipe under the surface of King Edward Street, adjacent to the Cohuna fire station.
Community frustration at the inaction continues to mount, with one witty resident adding a doll of the notoriously slothful Homer Simpson and empty ‘Duff Beer’ cans to the scene of the leak at the weekend.
While many locals believe the leak should have been repaired by Coliban Water long ago, the company denied responsibility for the problem.
“The leak was first reported to Coliban Water on March 20, our contractor investigated the leak and found the cause of the leak is a fault with the fire service,” customer experience and community relations general manager, Kath Hansford said.
“The fire service is the responsibility of the owner – in this case it is the CFA. We advised the CFA of this. We have also been in touch with the local council about the leak and we are hopeful that it will be fixed by the owner soon.”
CFA District 20 Operations Manager Peter Taylor was equally resolute, accusing Coliban Water of a “lack of good faith” in refusing to repair the leak.
“We have a different opinion to Coliban Water; we believe it is absolutely Coliban’s responsibility but we’ve spoken to them and they don’t agree,” he said.
Mr Taylor said legislation in both the CFA and Water Acts was unclear on the matter, but to him the matter of responsibility was obvious because the broken pipe supplied domestic water to the station, not just water for fire-fighting.
“In my mind it’s very clear, the leak is on Coliban Water’s side of the meter and it’s also a domestic supply to the building, which means they do have the responsibility to maintain it,” he said.
“It’s something we would like to see resolved because it’s causing a lot of angst in the community.”
The station has very low water pressure because of the leak and currently tankers need to go elsewhere to fill, and Mr Taylor said neighbouring properties were also being affected.
“It comes down to the pub test I suppose – what’s fair and reasonable and you would think that the water company would take responsibility because it affects more than just us,” he said.
“As soon as we start to dig, it would be exploratory surgery in some respects because we don’t know what we might find and then who pays, so we are trying to get Coliban to do what we think is the right thing to do.”
Cr Lorraine Learmonth said Gannawarra Shire Council was also frustrated by the situation.
“All that council can do is report it and that has been done several times,” she said.
“I don’t care whose fault it is, the water should be stopped and then worry about that later because water’s very precious in our area and it’s just terrible to have all this good clear water going to waste.”
“It’s quite an embarrassment I would say for Coliban Water.”
Cr Learmonth said the leak was only the latest in a series of issues with the town’s domestic water supply network.
“I think our whole watering system in Cohuna is not good; I don’t know how old it is but it keeps breaking out in different spots,” she said.
