Conference Papers | 2009 Conference Papers

BEST PRACTICE WATER FAULT MANAGEMENT

Anita Johnstone, Manager Emergency Maintenance, Yarra Valley Water

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ABSTRACT

In the summer of 2006/07 Yarra Valley Water (YVW) was faced with increased water fault volumes and a shift in customer perception as a result of drought conditions combined with tough water restrictions. A review was undertaken to optimise the fault call resolution process before December 2007 in order to minimise negative media and negative customer feedback.

Actions implemented were:

• Increased Resources & Equipment
• Programmed Works (Leak detection & Valve insertions)
• Central Management of Bursts & Leak Backlog
• Scripting & Prioritisation
• Customer Call Back & Feed back Calls
• Proactive media program.

The summer of 2007/08 showed a huge improvement due to a combination of the above combined with lower volumes. The customer callback program in particular proved to be a resounding success, greatly reducing negative media and customer feedback.

The process was finetuned and reapplied when the summer of 2008/09 hit. Unprecedented hot weather resulting in extremely high fault volumes and the bushfires put all the changes to the test. The result was positive, enabling the Backlog of jobs to be reduced in half the time of the 2006/07 summer. Again negative media and customer feedback was noticeably less.