2A) Improved water pressure for identified communities through targeted investigations and responses

About this project

One of the key concerns for many customers during our engagement to determine price plan priorities was pressure, with customer expectations about water pressure increasing. Some customers feel they should be able to use multiple water sources in the household at the one time, with no impact to their water pressure. Although it is believed that our water pressure does meet minimum standards, feedback has indicated that it is not meeting the expectations of some of our customers.
The areas that have expressed most concern with pressure seem to be in smaller towns such as Picola, Stanhope and Tatura; which are all geographically flat areas in Goulburn Valley Water’s district.

Actions to date

We initially surveyed all customers who have their email address listed with us to identify areas potentially experiencing pressure issues; and followed up with site-specific investigations and pressure tests in Stanhope, Picola and Tatura. We engaged an independent consultant to undertake further hydraulic modelling and we’ve now received the final report, which outlines options to address issues based on the survey and testing results.

We’ve also been engaging further with customers as part of the development of our pricing submission for 2023-28. We’ve heard from customers that pressure is still a really important issue - half of respondents who were dissatisfied with their supply were concerned about pressure. In subsequent stages of engagement, we heard there was strong support to improve pressure in towns - four out of five customers were happy to pay for improvements. We’ve taken the feedback on board and are looking at how we can incorporate this into our upcoming pricing submission.

We’ve also continued to complete minor repair and maintenance works on the water main network to help improve water pressure.

What's next?

We’ll develop an action plan that considers the recommendations of the report and what we heard from customers during pricing submission engagement activities. This may involve some quick, easy fixes but may also involve further investigations and planning for long-term upgrades in specific towns.

Our accountability for this project

As an independent regulator, the Essential Services Commission monitors the ongoing delivery of our 2018-23 Price Plan and associated projects.

For this information in PDF form, click here to download the factsheet (PDF: 632KB)