McLean Street water main is big-ticket project for upcoming budget
Published on 06 May 2025
Goondiwindi Regional Council is committing to prioritising McLean Street water main replacements in Goondiwindi in the upcoming budget for 2025-26.
Work to decommission a section of pipe that caused a major burst in February is now completed, with a short-term solution in place to ensure continued water supply for nearby properties. A multi-year long-term solution is currently in the design phase, which will then inform a long-term solution for the McLean Street water main.
Road and footpath repairs from the February burst are being completed over a number of stages, with the first stage of road works finished last month.
Cr Julia Spicer OAM holds Council’s portfolio for water and sewerage and said the replacement of ageing water infrastructure across the region is a key part of Council’s ongoing effort to ensure long-term reliability and quality of water services.
The McLean Street water main, in particular, has faced a number of issues in the past few years, including major bursts resulting in widespread or prolonged outages. The most recent outage in February impacted most connections in Goondiwindi town. Cr Spicer reassured residents that the section responsible for that outage is the section that has now been decommissioned.
‘Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that we are relying on ageing infrastructure that needs replacing,” Cr Spicer said. “The community has been very supportive of our crews getting out there at all times of the night to fix the issues as they arise, but obviously, we need to prevent further leaks in the future.”
There are about 186km of water mains in the Goondiwindi Region, and most of those are around 60 years old.
“I want to assure residents that Council is actively working to seek external funding opportunities for water infrastructure upgrades right across the region, as well as prioritising water main replacements in the upcoming budget,” Cr Spicer said.
“With such a huge network of water mains in the region, we have to tackle it bit by bit each year,” she said. “McLean Street is a real priority due to the increasing frequency of issues – in late 2021, the burst water main on the corner of McLean and Sandhurst streets affected a large part of the eastern end of town and took more than six hours of urgent repairs late into the night to bring that service back online. And the most recent Callandoon and McLean Street outage impacted nearly all of town.
“I want to give a big shout-out to our Council water crews because we are very fortunate that they’re so responsive and able to get such problems fixed as soon as possible,” Cr Spicer said.
More information on upcoming upgrades will be released as it is announced. All affected properties will be notified in advance.