Drinking water from the tap is finally safe for several Melbourne suburbs
It is finally safe for the Melbourne suburbs impacted by the boil water alert to drink from the tap. Here’s what Yarra Valley Water says customers should do before taking their first sip.
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A boil water advisory has been lifted for all Melbourne suburbs affected by contamination after storms lashed the state.
At 4.40pm on Sunday, authorities lifted the Boiling Water Advisory for the remaining suburbs.
Yarra Valley Water said there was no longer a concern about undisinfected water in the network.
“It is recommended that customers flush internal taps for two minutes to draw fresh water into their internal plumbing,” a statement said.
It comes after residents in 26 suburbs were on Saturday night told they could resume drinking their tap water.
But residents living in the affected suburbs have been advised to boil their water before drinking it or using it to prepare food.
Facing a third day without drinkable water, residents from suburbs affected by the contamination issue queued up at free water tankers across the eastern suburbs.
At Griff Hunt Reserve in Croydon North, Robert Fox and his daughter Elyssa filled up several large containers from the tanker to keep them going until Yarra Valley Water give the all clear on their water.
Mr Fox said the past few days had been “up and down” since Thursday’s storm affected their drinking water.
“You find yourself going to the tap to drink it, but then you remember and turn to the kettle,” he said.
“We’re in Croydon so it’s a 10-minute drive away from here.. We went to the supermarket yesterday and it was all empty.
“My wife got a message on Friday about the water so I thought I’d go and pick up some bottled water just in case, even though it was meant to be fixed by Friday night.
“There was nothing in the supermarkets. We heard about this on the Yarra Valley Water website — it’s very good of them.”
Ringwood East man Joe also said all the supermarkets in his area were completely sold out of water.
“I think everyone’s used to frustration from the COVID lockdown so it’s not too daunting but of course it’s a little bit impractical,” he said.
“All local supermarkets are empty — we went to all those places and there was nothing. Obviously there’s been some panic buying but we’re used to all that now
“Hopefully it won’t be too much longer. I’d imagine there’s a lot of work to do to make sure it’s all tested and safe.”
But even boiling water had been impossible for some families, whose power had also not been restored since the deadly storms, forcing them to buy water or fill up bottles from tankers parked at local reserves.
Ferntree Gully’s Sharni Wright was one of them on Saturday.
“I didn’t actually know about the water (contamination) until last night … I had already drank it,” she said “I feel fine thankfully.”
Sheridan Lee also stocked up on fresh water at Wally Tew Reserve in Ferntree Gully on Saturday morning where tankers brought in emergency drinking water.
“Last night we had enough water for drinking, but this morning we used up all of our boiled water.
“My in-laws are down in The Basin and they haven’t had any power for 48 hours. I’m picking up some water for them, too.”
Cockatoo father-of-four Matt Bennet still has drinkable water but has been without power since Thursday evening because of the storm.
Mr Bennett said the outage has left three of his high-school aged children unable to complete their school work while he can no longer work from home.
“We are at our wits’ end”, Mr Bennett said.
Power outages from the storm caused untreated water from the Silvan Dam to enter the water retailers’ supply systems for about six hours when a back-up generator failed.
There have been no reports of illness linked to the contaminated water to date, a DHS spokesman told the Sunday Herald Sun.
It is understood to be just the second time in 20 years that both power and a Melbourne Water generator have failed at the same time, resulting in untreated water entering the state’s drinking supply.
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