Former freezer worker Natalie Colello said her and her family’s troubles began on June 3, after water works near her Irvine St home, carried out by council contractors, allegedly caused her water cylinder to "explode".
She said it was a council staff member’s failure to "bleed" the water supply to her house that led pipes to rupture suddenly and hot water to inundate her carpeted sitting room when it was turned back on.
Mrs Colello said after an initial experience that was "frightening and upsetting", things were made worse by the council’s subsequent response.
"It happened on a Wednesday and, initially, the council accepted responsibility and said they’d fix it straight away.
"But then we just received holding emails until late Friday when they turned round and said we’d need to claim for it through our own insurance."
"It ended up with all four of us using our 20-litre camp shower filled from the kettle and stove, which you can imagine isn’t ideal in the dead of winter."
A week later, the "desperate" family turned to Work and Income to resolve the problem, and a replacement cylinder was installed on June 10.
Despite since receiving repeated assurances from both council chief executive Steve Hill and Mayor Bryan Cadogan, Mrs Colello said she was still waiting for the council to take charge and issue a simple apology.
"It just seems incredibly slack getting anything done. If it were left to council, who admitted responsibility, I genuinely believe we’d still be sitting here without hot water two weeks later. Stringing us along was just cruel and unnecessarily stressful.
"I’d like to see them held accountable, and to receive a simple, sincere ‘sorry’."
Mr Hill acknowledged the council had missed its latest deadline to respond to Mrs Colello, but denied overall communication had been inadequate.
"We’re investigating her claims and I’m waiting on the results.
"We understand her concerns and intend to come back to her with answers and a resolution this week."
