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Watercare apologises after three water pipes burst in 24 hrs; hundreds without water

Author
NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Tue, 13 Feb 2024, 12:39pm

Watercare apologises after three water pipes burst in 24 hrs; hundreds without water

Author
NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Tue, 13 Feb 2024, 12:39pm

Residents in the central Auckland suburbs of Remuera and Meadowbank are without running water after three faults in 24 hours.

Around 200 properties have not had water since yesterday while others in the eastern part of the suburb have low water pressure.

Watercare this morning apologised and said it was working to repair burst water mains and restore supply.

It had also stationed a water tanker in the neighbourhood for people to fill up containers for free.

The burst pipe at the corner of Remuera Rd and Koraha St, Remuera meant no water for properties in the area. Photo / FacebookThe burst pipe at the corner of Remuera Rd and Koraha St, Remuera meant no water for properties in the area. Photo / Facebook

Auckland deputy mayor Desley Simpson said a large pipe buried beneath the ground had burst overnight - the third serious failure in a day.

She said initially the first burst water pipe that cut water happened at the corner of Koraha St and Remuera Rd and was repaired yesterday.

“My understanding is there was a person on the road with medical issues, so they worked hard to fix that.

“A second break was escalated at 4.28pm yesterday, at this time the water was still partially on. The water was turned off soon after and the initial fault was repaired by about 10pm.”

However, a third and more serious fault was discovered overnight.

“The third problem is a linear problem that is four pipe lengths. It is a large pipe, 225m in diameter, and it is under a lot of concrete,” Simpson said.

“There are three teams on site for the large pipe. They have one team looking at getting through to the pipe, another team looking at valve options, and a third team looking at whether they need other methods of supply because the repair won’t be a fast one - for example, an overland pipe.”

Simpson estimated there are currently 201 customers without water and customers in the eastern part of the Hobson Zone will have low pressures.

“It’s a pretty bad mix of issues in a small space. Watercare is aware of what is happening,” she said.

“It’s another example of a failure on the system and it’s becoming completely unacceptable to get broken pipes in the network affecting water to Auckland residents.”

Watercare said crews were now working to fix the broken pipes but did not have a firm estimated time for when the water would come back on.

“Our crews are continuing to work to restore water to several streets after three pipe breaks within a 24-hour period,” said Watercare.

“We apologise that many of you have been without water for quite some hours.”

Watercare thanked people for their patience.

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