Faults & Emergencies

In a large system like ours, problems can unexpectedly occur. These can cause interruptions to service and other unforeseen issues, such as water or sewer leaks, and therefore need to be fixed as quickly as possible.

As these kind of service faults are usually unplanned, we rely on the community to tell us about problems – please contact us on 1300 657 000 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if there is something we should know about.

 

How to report a problem

When reporting a service fault, you will usually be asked to provide a number of details to help staff identify the location and severity of the fault. Details required include:

• Location (including closest cross street) 
• Origin – i.e. metal or concrete cover, footpath or grass nature strip, front yard or meter area 
• If a leak, we need to know roughly how much water is leaking (try to think of how much water comes from a garden hose - and with what force)
• If a sewer fault, we need to know if you can see liquid seeping from the drains (i.e. sewage surcharging).

After assessing these details, Hunter Water then prioritises the fault according to:

• whether the problem poses a threat to customer health, the environment and/or property; and
• the amount of water being wasted.

Repairs are then completed in order of priority.

 

Planned interruptions

Although most service interruptions are unplanned, we may need to arrange planned interruptions to your water supply services and sewerage services to allow for planned or regular maintenance of our sewer system or water system.

We will inform you in writing of the expected time and duration of any planned interruption at least two days in advance if you are a residential customer, and seven days in advance if you are a non-residential customer, unless you agree to another period.

We will do our best to ensure the planned interruption is no longer than five hours in one continuous period.