Water bills on track

By Kath Gannaway
WATER carters in the Yarra Valley will have to fit new tracking devices or surrender their right to access water from the Yarra Valley Water supply network.
The EasyFill devices are part of revisions to Yarra Valley Water’s Bulk Water Permits system.
The permits allow water carters to draw water from hydrants and water filling stations for fire fighting, stock watering, construction, dust suppression and other public health services.
While Yarra Valley Water is hailing the new technology as having major benefits for the organisation, water consumers as a whole, and the commercial carters, some carters say it is a Big Brother approach which will further push up the price of water.
The new device will automatically log information such as where water is supplied from and how much is taken.
The information will go to a centralised, secure data base and carters will be billed accordingly.
Yarra Valley Water managing director Tony Kelly said the web-based map system would help carters identify the most appropriate hydrants to use in order to avoid mains water customers being impacted by reduced water pressure or water quality as a result of a tanker drawing water from the system.
Bruce Anderson of Yarra Glen has been in the industry for 20 years.
He believes the same outcome – better accountability – could have been achieved by making filling stations more secure.
“I only cart 7000 litres. It’s the big semis, some of them taking 26,000 litres in a load, that are the real problem,” he said.
“I think it’s going overboard to have the trucks tracked 24 hours a day – everything we do with the truck will be monitored,” he said.
Mr Anderson said the cost of water had nearly doubled in 12 months and that the cost of the EasyFill technology would add another $20 a load to consumers. Howard Ward of Gruyere said he was also concerned about the intrusive aspect of the new system, but added he could understand Yarra Valley Water wanting to have a more accountable system.
“But I think they need to look a bit further than just the water carters to find the problems in the industry,” he said.
Mr Kelly said under the new system, Yarra Valley Water would be able to more easily manage the water network for all customers.
The EasyFill technology will be mandatory for water carters with a carrying capacity of 1800 litres or more from 1 July.