Resident Ray Marler is incensed that water has been leaking for weeks at the Berkeley Vale shops on Lakedge Ave and has concerns regarding the safety of shoppers as well the huge waste of water.
Marler said no action had been taken to address the major leak at the shopping centre opposite Bluegum Park.
“The water has been running across the footpath, carpark and into the gutter for several weeks now at a rate of approximately 3-5 litres a minute, if not more,” he said.
“It was reported to Central Coast Council, who sent a team there to investigate, but nothing had been done to repair the leak.”
Marler said he first noticed the leak on December 7.
“I visited the shops, saw the water running and asked how long it had been running for,” he said.
“I was told (it had been running for) over one month and had been reported.
“I contacted Council on December 8 and was told that the leak was on the owner’s side of the meter and it was up to them to have the leak repaired.
“Meanwhile all of this precious water is running into the lake.
“The footpath and parking area is getting (are becoming) dangerous.”
After being contacted by Coast Community News on December 16, a Central Coast Council spokesperson said staff attended the business on December 20 to ensure that the business operator was taking appropriate action to address the leak.
“Given the leak is present between two walls in the building, further work is required to access and repair the leak, which is ongoing,” the spokesperson said.
“Council staff are endeavouring to ensure the works are completed this week.”
But Marler said Council had been incompetent in not issuing an order to have the leak repaired by a certain date, or even effecting the repairs and billing the business owner rather than letting water run into the lake for several weeks.
“Also, I think the residents of the Central Coast should know about this issue seeing that we are asked to conserve water and our water rates are increasing,” he said.
Terry Collins