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Speaker 1: Tell you what, it's been a massive week. It goes

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Speaker 1: without saying for Power and Water, who've been working around

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Speaker 1: the clock to fix this pump station at Darwin River Dam.

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Speaker 1: And back with me in the studio with the latest

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Speaker 1: good news is the acting CEO, John Peace. Good morning

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Speaker 1: to you, John, Good.

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Speaker 2: Morning, Katie, and good morning to your listeners.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time. Now we know

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Speaker 1: another generator up and running yesterday afternoon after which means

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Speaker 1: that water usage could go back to normal. Will you

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Speaker 1: stuck to your prediction that it would only take two

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Speaker 1: days at least for a temporary fix. How are things

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Speaker 1: tracking along now.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie. Yeah, very proud of our crews. They've done

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Speaker 2: an amazing job. At three o'clock yesterday they connected a

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Speaker 2: second pump to the general aretor we have on site.

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Speaker 2: They're now focusing on repairing the switchboard, which will then

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Speaker 2: enable us to connect the existing two pumps to the

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Speaker 2: permanent overhead power and then we'll extend to a third

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Speaker 2: and fourth pump as we go forward. The great news

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Speaker 2: yesterday was that meant we could ask or remove the

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Speaker 2: request darn residents some conserve water. We still encourage people

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Speaker 2: to be responsible, so probably watering your garden in this

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Speaker 2: current season is not necessary, but we're very pleased with that.

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Speaker 2: We're also in the process of reversing the reduction in

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Speaker 2: water pressure that we implemented. There will be some areas

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Speaker 2: which will notice some water discoloration as that reversal of

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Speaker 2: the water pressure reduction happens. Just a reminder to everybody

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Speaker 2: that the Chief Health Officers boil water alert is still

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Speaker 2: in place, but the discolouration doesn't mean that you can't

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Speaker 2: shower in it or use it for any other purposes.

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Speaker 1: And so with that boil water in place, I know

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Speaker 1: that the chow will then decide when that's sort of

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Speaker 1: lifted based on testing. But that testing sort of underway,

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Speaker 1: isn't it.

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Speaker 2: My understanding is that they're waiting for the test results

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Speaker 2: that were taken yesterday. Ultimately, it's the Chief Health Officer's call,

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Speaker 2: so we'll monitor the space for an announcement coming from

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Speaker 2: the Chief Health Officer.

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Speaker 1: Now, from your perspective, when do you anticipate that those

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Speaker 1: remaining pumps might be up and running. Is it looking

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Speaker 1: like it could be by the weekend or still a

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Speaker 1: few days away.

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Speaker 2: I think it's still a few days away. Once again

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Speaker 2: where the teams are just throwing everything at it to

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Speaker 2: get all four pumps connected to overhead power.

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Speaker 1: Now, in terms of is that still sort of the

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Speaker 1: temporary fix or once they're connected to the overhead power,

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Speaker 1: that is the permanent fix, isn't it?

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Speaker 2: That's the permanent fix. Perfect?

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Speaker 1: And in terms of you know what's happened out there

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Speaker 1: to those pumps, you've done some further checking. Everything appears

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Speaker 1: to be okay. There's no damage.

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Speaker 2: All the pumps were inspected when we got in on

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Speaker 2: site and they're all fine to be connected. That work's

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Speaker 2: been done.

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Speaker 1: So you don't see four c sort of any long

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Speaker 1: term issues as a result of the floodwater getting in there.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely not. We don't anticipate that.

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Speaker 1: That's good to hear, really good to hear. Now, I

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Speaker 1: might take you across to Catherine, because I know that

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Speaker 1: there's a few different different things happening in Catherine. We

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Speaker 1: received some information about the sewerage in Thron at the moment,

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Speaker 1: what is the concern there at this point in time,

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Speaker 1: As you.

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Speaker 2: Can imagine, there's an enormous amount of groundwater flooding or

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Speaker 2: flooding through and flooding through Catherine. Unfortunately, a result of that,

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Speaker 2: we've had two sewer mains have experienced issues. We've got

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Speaker 2: work underway on both of them. Once again, we've got

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Speaker 2: multiple crews down there. We expect to have resolved one

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Speaker 2: by the end of today. The second one will take

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Speaker 2: a bit longer, probably tomorrow for that to be repaired.

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Speaker 2: We have issued a public alert to warn the public

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Speaker 2: to stay away from those areas given that we have

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Speaker 2: had those issues.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, but people are still a right to use their

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Speaker 1: toilets and that sort of stuff.

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Speaker 2: Toilets are still fine to We've implemented work around measures

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Speaker 2: so people are still find to use toilets. It just

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Speaker 2: stay clear of those areas as per our alert.

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Speaker 1: And the other big one is the certificate of compliance

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Speaker 1: for flood affected residents for people getting their power back on.

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Speaker 2: It's a really good point and I have mentioned this

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Speaker 2: on multiple occasions and once again for safety reasons. Once

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Speaker 2: flooding is becoming an issue, we isolate individual residences to

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Speaker 2: protect them and keep them safe. Once the water recedes,

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Speaker 2: each resident needs to then organize for an electrician to

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Speaker 2: inspect their side of the house to make sure everything

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Speaker 2: is safe. Once they've got that, the electrician will give

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Speaker 2: them what's referred to as a certificate of compliance. It's

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Speaker 2: effectively saying, yes, it's the electrical wiring has been inspected,

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Speaker 2: the house is safe to reconnect. Then the resident contacts us.

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Speaker 2: We have a team that are then ready to come

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Speaker 2: out and reconnect individuals to power. At the moment where

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Speaker 2: we're dropping the number of people who've been asking us

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Speaker 2: to do that, well, yesterday we're at around the three

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Speaker 2: hundred and twelve mark. We're down about two hundred and

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Speaker 2: twelve now, so the numbers continuing to drop. Obviously that's

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Speaker 2: contingent on water receding. People were going to get that

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Speaker 2: certificate and compliance. So I can't stress strongly enough residents.

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Speaker 2: As the water recedes, you get back into the house,

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Speaker 2: get that certificate compliance before you contact us, because we

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Speaker 2: can't reconnect your house to power until we've got that

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Speaker 2: certificate of cower.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's the same situation that we all had,

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Speaker 1: you know here in Darwin around cyclone Feena, if you

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Speaker 1: lost your power, you had to make sure that you

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Speaker 1: get that certificate before power and water are able to

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Speaker 1: get in and then connect you to the mains I

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Speaker 1: think or the you know, the power.

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Speaker 2: Underground power yeah, absolutely, that certificate compliance is the essential

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Speaker 2: first step to enable us to re energize your home.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and John, you mentioned before those numbers around two hundred,

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Speaker 1: I think, is that how many are still without power

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Speaker 1: or is there more that is still without power At

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Speaker 1: the moment.

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Speaker 2: My understanding is that is the number who are without power.

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Speaker 1: Okay, well, that's great that the large majority, by the

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Speaker 1: sounds of it, are back on.

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Speaker 2: The number continues to filpate, and that's contingent on water

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Speaker 2: dropping and obviously individuals getting there on house inspected and

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Speaker 2: getting a certificate of compliance.

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Speaker 1: And look, I know it's not great if you are

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Speaker 1: one of those people still without power. I know throughout

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Speaker 1: Feena I was somebody who had no power for quite

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Speaker 1: a long period of time, So it can be tough.

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Speaker 1: But once you've got that certificate, things do move pretty

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Speaker 1: quickly and hopefully you'll get the crews out there really

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Speaker 1: quite fast.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, we've been conscious that there could be large volumes

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Speaker 2: that come through, so we've got the numbers ready to

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Speaker 2: as and when we get those requests to be able

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Speaker 2: to reconnect people as quickly as possible. And I would

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Speaker 2: like to take the opportunity to we understand it's inconvenient

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Speaker 2: and it's difficult, and we really understand everybody's patience as

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Speaker 2: we work through this. We're working as quickly as we

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Speaker 2: possible as we possibly can, as soon as individuals come

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Speaker 2: to us with that certificate of compliance.

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Speaker 1: John, It's been like a massive a few days or

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Speaker 1: week however long it's been. First off, you know, issues

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Speaker 1: obviously around the flooding, you know, making sure then you

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Speaker 1: know that the sewerage is working as it needs to be,

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Speaker 1: making sure the water is pumping as it needs to be,

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Speaker 1: power going back on to homes. Literally every aspect of

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Speaker 1: Power and Water has had to be utilized over the

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Speaker 1: last sort of seven days, has Nash.

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Speaker 2: It's been an unprecedented week for everybody. I'm so proud

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Speaker 2: of our crews and our people. They've done an amazing

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Speaker 2: job in some places in really difficult circumstances. I think

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Speaker 2: it's one of the things that draws people to work

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Speaker 2: at Power and Water. It's the fact that we every

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Speaker 2: member of the community. We're touching it at every moment

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Speaker 2: pretty much, whether we're providing an electricity, water or sewerage.

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Speaker 2: It's such a great place to work and very proud

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Speaker 2: and commend all of our people for their fabulous.

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Speaker 1: Work and all territorians as well. You know, locals and

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Speaker 1: their families might have been impacted as well, so I've

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Speaker 1: no doubt working really hard to try and make sure

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Speaker 1: that all of the issues are sorted as quickly as possible. Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: thank you so much, Katie John, Thank you so much.

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Speaker 1: Really appreciate all the time you've given us throughout this week.

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Speaker 2: Thank you