Boil Water Advisory rescinded – Inverloch

Wednesday, March 9th, 2022

South Gippsland Water alongside the Department of Health advises all residents of Inverloch that after extensive cleaning, flushing, and water quality monitoring, Inverloch’s water supply is safe to drink without having to boil it first.

South Gippsland Water’s Managing Director Philippe du Plessis said that the South Gippsland Water team took immediate steps Friday night, including forming an Incident Management Team, implementing communications to affected persons, and commencing rectification works in order to bring Inverloch’s water supply system back to normal as soon as possible .

“Our team has been working tirelessly to restore Inverloch to business as usual. We were first alerted late Friday with the discovery of three deceased birds and sediment in the Inverloch clear water storage tank. We were preparing the tank for weekend maintenance works.”

We issued the Boil Water Advisory Alert as a precautionary response on Friday evening.

“Very early Saturday morning our team began flushing and cleaning the Inverloch water tank and the water reticulation pipe system. We agreed a comprehensive plan to restore services with the Department of Health and then implemented that plan over the weekend and into Monday. Our water quality testing over that period has shown no signs of contamination.”

“It really is highly unusual for us to issue a Boil Water Advisory and something we don’t take lightly due to the inconvenience it may cause. But in this case, working with the Department of Health, in the interests of public safety we decided it necessary.”

“I and all at South Gippsland Water would like to thank all Inverloch residents and businesses for their patience during this time. I would also like to thank our colleagues at Bass Coast Shire Council, Bass Coast Health and the many community networks who assisted us in spreading the alert. We really appreciate how our community always comes together during situations like this.”

Communication to customers took place via a variety of means including the Vic Emergency App, social media platforms, print, radio and television, direct emails and SMS to customers.

Mr du Plessis said South Gippsland Water’s Incident Management Team will now review the entire incident, including the source, the operational response and the effectiveness of communication to customers.

“We will be looking at the feedback we received during the incident and make changes to our processes and procedures. We continually review and improve our practices to ensure they are up-to-date and in line with customer’s expectations. The ability to extend our database of customer contact information and the speed of collating and deploying it has been one key learning.”

“If anybody needs to update their contact details with us to ensure you receive messages in the future, please get in touch with our friendly customer service team at any time on 1300 851 636.”