Maffra water mains to be cleaned

Gippsland Water has begun to scour the pipes that transfer water to homes and businesses in Maffra.

General Manager Customer and Community Paul Clark said that the works are all about protecting water quality.

“Providing safe, clean water is our priority. We regularly clean the water mains all around our network to remove residue which can build up over time,” he said.

Gippsland Water has invested $200,000 on new infrastructure to enable the Maffra water network to be cleaned.

“What we’ll be doing over the coming weeks is inserting what is essentially a large sponge into the main. We scrub the pipe, and then take the sponge out again.

“Our team will start by cleaning the large pipe that transfers water from the treatment plant to the storage tanks. We’ll then clean the smaller pipes in the streets with a high pressure air flow – also known as air scouring. We’ll be sending out notices to our customers with more details as we get closer to those properties.

“In the meantime, I’d like to remind customers that if you experience any issues with your water, please call us on 1800 057 057. We have local crews available to respond 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” he said.

Gippsland Water has received a small number of calls from Maffra residents over the last few weeks as the early stages of the work caused issues for some customers.

“I’d like to thank those who called in about the water quality in Maffra, and apologise to anyone who has been impacted by this essential work. Your calls are very important to us, and we take them very seriously. We can’t monitor individual Facebook pages, but we do have a local call centre ready to help,” Mr Clark concluded.