By BRIDGET SCOTT
AN Endeavour Hills resident has described his water as ‘third world country drinking water.’
The Wong family were among a few residents in Endeavour Hills to receive a nasty surprise on Friday 26 April, when they found their drinking water to be yellow and muddy.
Brandon Wong’s wife was at home around 12 noon, when she turned on the tap in the kitchen to find discoloured and dirty water.
“My wife realised the water from the taps was coming out muddy and dirty,” Mr Wong said.
She rang her husband Brandon, who upon returning home at around 3.30pm found it was still discoloured.
As this was the first time the family had experienced contaminated water they rang South East Water (SEW). Mr Wong said the authority never returned his call with a response to his concerns, just told him to turn his front tap on.
According to South East Water, the Wong’s home in Jersey Close was not the only property to experience the discoloured water, but assured the public that it was still safe to drink.
“A small number of customers surrounding Jersey Close in Endeavour Hills reported dirty water to South East Water on Friday 26 April,” a spokesperson said.
“SEW can assure customers in this area that the water was safe to drink, despite the change in colour.”
Mr Wong said his family had received no notification as to why their water may be dirty, and said someone eventually came to his house around 7pm that night.
“I know they did send people out to look at the problem as I saw a truck stop out the front of my house,” he said.
SEW believes the incident was a result of works in the nearby area.
“It appears that a water tanker, such as a street sweeper, may have withdrawn water from a local council hydrant located on Jersey Shore, stirring up naturally occurring sediment in the pipes,” the spokesperson said.
SEW also said ‘registered water carters are advised not to withdraw water from small diameter water mains like this one, as it has the potential to disturb the naturally occurring sediment in the water network.’
The authority said residents who are concerned about the quality of their water in the future should contact SEW straight away to pinpoint the cause.
