Water supply to our islands was cut again in early September following another break in the line on Karragarra Island.
It was the third such line breakage in the same area on Karragarra.
However, the breakages were in different areas, and not in the previously repaired areas.
SEQ Water told The Friendly Bay Islander that the new burst line was detected in an old section of pipeline on Karragarra Island and was identified to have occurred in a different section of the original pipeline to the previous break; and was unrelated to the other pipe repairs in the area.
The breakage occurred in mid afternoon, with residents advised to fill containers at home, while repair work was to be carried out from 8pm on the evening of September 1.
SEQ teams worked throughout the night pumping out the area before being able to enable a new line replacement in the area.
The work was completed in the early hours of September 2, with the islands reconnected by the time most residents rose later in the morning.
SEQ Water revealed a section of the failed pipe has since been sent to a laboratory for analysis to get a better understanding of why it may have failed.
SEQ Water completed more than 35 improvement projects in 2019 to reduce the risk of supply interruptions to the Karragarra Island area, which then connects to the rest of the Southern Bay Islands.
The repair work has included installing additional flowmeters and pressure gauges to provide SEQ Water with an early warning of any system issues, and provide the ability to isolate different sections of the system in the event of a pipe break.
In total, SEQ Water has invested almost $1 million in the water supply improvement works for the Bay Islands community.
It is hoped that similar line breaks will now become a rarity.
SEQ Water is now working closely with Redland City Council to assess the impacted pipeline and determine best options to further improve water supply resilience for the Southern Moreton Bay Islands.
• Working under lights on the latest water break on Russell Island.