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We are a medium-rise block in a hilly part of Sydney. Late last year, residents of our top floor found that water pressure was fluctuating to a point where their supply sometimes failed. They complained to Sydney Water and were told that nothing had changed; they should ask a plumber to check the building’s water pipes. So we bought a pressure meter and discovered that the supply pressure at the building’s main connection fluctuated and could be as low as 340 kilopascals. We complained again and were told that was within standards.
Then we asked the building next door. They’d noticed it too. Armed with this information, we complained a third time and fortunately Sydney Water accepted our complaint and restored pressure in our area to more than 400 kPa which solved the problem.
A booklet was enclosed with our quarterly water bills recently, Reading the fine print, one sees that the minimum pressure standard is 15 metres’ head at the point of connection. That’s just 147 kPa or 21 psi.
I don’t know why 340 kPa won’t get water up to our top floor. But I do know that if supply pressure drops to 147 kPa then residential buildings all over Sydney will have to install and maintain booster pumps. No doubt the pumps will fail occasionally and then everyone’s supply will fail.
Has anyone else worked through this matter?
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Hi Chesswood
I believe Sydney Water has decided to reduce Mains Pressure to protect their old degrading mains , and now mains pressure will only reach level 3 as is the case in our 8 level block at Caringbah aka Highfield
We have dual pressure pumps that are serviced half yearly , only 1 issue over the last 3 years when a bit of a washer came in through the mains and stuck in one of the pressure pumps
However the high pressure required to boost the water up 8 floors appears to be damaging tempering valves and residents on lower floor are encountering whistling and squealing plumbing noises.
Plumbers also have differing opinions about how this issue is best handled as reducing pump pressure will compromise the water pressure to the upper levels
Sorry I cannot be more helpful
I sympathise as we are in the same position- Sydney Water have reduced our water pressure to the bare minimum permitted. A couple of years ago we installed a sprinkler system in the gardens and they won’t work because there simply isn’t enough pressure to run them (who would have thought that the minimum water pressure for a multi level strata wouldn’t even be sufficient to run a few garden sprinklers!) I know that Sydney Water have ageing infrastructure but they should be required to upgrade it so that residents on higher levels have enough water to wash their hair properly (at the very least)!
I know that Sydney Water have ageing infrastructure but they should be required to upgrade it so that residents on higher levels have enough water to wash their hair properly (at the very least)!
Which reminds me of this Seinfeld episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyZ41rgC07o
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
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