Water supply interruptions are either planned or unplanned.
Planned outages usually happen when we’re replacing a section of pipe, rather than fixing a burst or leak. You should have received a letter explaining this would happen and when. If you didn’t, chances are it’s an unplanned outage.
Unplanned outages usually result from water main bursts.
When there is a significant water burst the auto shut-off valve (ASV) is triggered. Anywhere between 20 and 100 or more properties can be affected.
ASV's are a vital part of a resilient network, as we need to preserve the water in reservoirs in case there is a major break.
Re-setting the ASV is a priority as we isolate the leak for repair, but it can take a couple of hours for the rest of the network to fill up again, meaning you may have little to no water pressure for a few hours.
If you experience low water pressure, or no water, it's often the first sign there's been a water burst.
Sometimes you might hear a loudhailer announcement that the water is about to be shut off in order to fix a burst or leak – but it can be easy to miss those.
Your local city council should be aware of a water outage and what’s happening to fix it.