What happened

During the 2022 floods the Cohuna Water Treatment Plant struggled to treat the extreme poor raw water quality coming in.

Customers were encouraged to minimise water use as Cohuna’s water supply was at risk.

Despite carting water to supplement the town water supply, we were required to turn off supply to Supply by Agreement customers. Find out more below.

Our recovery and rebuild plans

We're investigating how to better protect the Cohuna Water Treatment Plant.

Supply by Agreement

Some customers around Cohuna are supplied water through a Supply by Agreement (SBA).

In areas where specific conditions are met and on properties located outside our supply district we provide service under a SBA that protects your rights and responsibilities as a property owner as well as Coliban Water’s as a supplier.

We currently have over 1,400 urban and 200 rural customers receiving water under these conditions. Many of these are in the Cohuna and Leitchville regions.

Under the Supply by Agreement arrangement, Coliban Water does not guarantee pressure or supply.

On 8 November, a decision was made to temporarily turn-off the rural supply for Supply by Agreement customers in Cohuna.

The decision followed ongoing issues with the quality of the raw water that supplies the Cohuna Water Treatment Plant.

While we monitored the condition of the raw water and adjust the processes at our Water Treatment Plant, we needed to take steps to secure supply for Cohuna residents with town water.

While inconvenient for many customers, this action allowed us to maintain supply for the majority of the town.