Weeping water woes for California Gully family

By Rosa Ellen
Updated November 7 2012 - 5:29am, first published August 7 2011 - 12:07pm
SOAKING: Jo Boyd outside her California Gully home where water has been leaking from the nature strip for some time.  Picture: JIM ALDERSEY
SOAKING: Jo Boyd outside her California Gully home where water has been leaking from the nature strip for some time. Picture: JIM ALDERSEY

A California Gully family whose nature strip has turned into a marshy patch of mud from a mysterious water leak says that after nine months, nobody will fix the problem.Jo Boyd, 32, and her husband Tony Stevens, 42, say neither the City of Greater Bendigo nor Coliban Water will examine the source of the water.The California Gully couple said the water started to seep from their lawn shortly after they moved into the new home last September.“We can’t walk on the nature strip,” Ms Boyd said.“It (the water) has taken up about 60 per cent of our nature strip.“I want to know where all the water is coming from and who’s paying for it.’’The couple own one of 15 houses built in the public-private group self-build project, which provides affordable housing through mutual building programs.City of Greater Bendigo manager of property and building services Andy Walker said the couple had been advised that it was their responsibility as owner-builders to undertake an investigation to determine what was causing the seepage.However, Ms Boyd said neither Coliban Water nor the plumbers originally contracted to the property would inspect the pipe.Coliban Water said the pipe was not one of its assets, and plumber Mark Rudebeck, who worked on houses on the estate, said he had not received any calls about the leaking nature strip, but would be happy to inspect it.For now, the family is stuck with the waterlogged nature strip, which has a constant stream of water running from it.“It just looks horrible,” Ms Boyd said.“We have a brand-new house and we’re trying to make it beautiful.”

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