Outrage as council leaves residents without water or air-con during heatwave
Mt Isa residents will be left without a working air-conditioner for two weeks, through the blistering heatwave, at the hand of their local council.
A two-week maintenance program is requiring water supply to be switched off on a Queensland street.
This water outage will impact up to 30 residences whose water supply is linked to their air conditioning source – meaning the heat will become even more unbearable for residents.
The council told residents the water supply would be switched off for up to six hours per day over the next two weeks.
Temperatures throughout this time are expected to hit scorching levels, reaching to 42 degrees most days during the maintenance period.
“You will experience no or low pressure and/or discoloured water, you are advised to run taps before using for drinking or washing,” the Mt Isa council said in a statement issued to residents who will be impacted during the outage.
Urs Mueller, 62, told Yahoo 7 News his home's air-conditioning relies on a constant source of water to run. This is much like other residents who will be impacted by the water being switched off.
“What happens if a fire starts outside or in the kitchen? We can’t get a hose to put it out,” Mueller said.
“I pay my rates… I don’t want to die at home in a hot house.”
The maintenance work is a “city-wide, long-term initiative that will allow for better distribution and flow of this precious resource,” the council said.
Mueller says if the issue is not resolved, he plans on protesting with his neighbours and storming the council offices.
“I can assure you that no property will have water shutdown for six hours per day for two weeks, however we have given each property an indication of the timings of the scheduled works and will be keeping in communication with any property should we require the disruption of water service,” a spokesperson said.