IT’S hard to fathom in 2025 that some suburban families in Capalaba are still living without reliable water pressure.
Yet Fernando and Nicole da Silva’s story reveals just that –four years without a bath, ongoing water cut-offs, and a daily struggle for a basic service most Australians take for granted.
This is not just a frustrating inconvenience.
It’s an unacceptable failure that has gone on for far too long.
The da Silvas did what any reasonable residents would do.
They contacted Redland City Council.
And they were told, repeatedly, that there was no widespread issue.
That it was isolated. That it must be their problem.
But it wasn’t. And it isn’t.
Thanks to the tireless advocacy of Cr Jason Colley – who took the issue seriously while campaigning for Council – we now know this is a systemic failure impacting many residents.
Cr Colley took the simple but powerful step of letterboxing 400 homes and received 24 responses confirming the same problem.
This wasn’t a coincidence – it was evidence.
To his credit, Cr Colley pushed for all complaints to be investigated as a single issue.
That action finally sparked some accountability.
Pressure loggers were installed.
SEQ Water began liaising with Council. Residents like the da Silvas were finally heard.
But the fact remains: This should have been addressed decades ago.
Some long-time residents claim this has been an issue for more than 30 years.
If true, that speaks to a generational failure in infrastructure planning and inter-agency coordination – one that has quietly robbed residents of an essential utility without proper scrutiny or urgency.
Instead, affected families have endured years of low water pressure, inexplicable service dropouts, and a merry-go-round of blame shifting between authorities.
The da Silvas even spent their own time and money replacing water lines in the hope of solving the problem themselves – only to be left with the same poor service.
Meanwhile, SEQ Water now suspects the issue is due to trapped air in the network.
They’ve acknowledged the fault. They’ve promised to fix it. But residents are still waiting.
This is not a developing-world problem.
This is a South East Queensland suburb where families pay extremely high rates and water bills and should expect a functioning water supply.
Residents need a clear timeline, full transparency, and where fault is acknowledged – compensation.
Above all, they deserve respect. Not further delay.
We commend Cr Colley for his persistence and for treating this as a community-wide issue rather than a handful of isolated complaints.
It’s leadership like this – on the ground, practical, and driven by residents’ real needs – that builds trust in local government.
But trust in the broader system? That’s still running on empty.
After four years without a bath, who could blame these residents for losing faith?
And if this many people are affected in one Capalaba pocket – how many other forgotten neighbourhoods across Redlands and the Bayside are quietly suffering the same fate we ask?
