Rebekah Lowe

A west Victorian town is no longer without mains drinking water, but not everyone will be making the switch to the new drinkable supply. Kaniva is a town of about 900 people located 114 kilometres west of Horsham in the Wimmera and was previously the largest town in the state without a drinkable water supply. On June 26, Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWM Water) announced mains water was finally available after a pipeline to the Dimboola Water Treatment Plant was connected.

The first stage of a $9 million private worker accommodation development, designed to make it easier to attract essential workers to western Victoria, has reached completion. The Horsham Medical Worker Accommodation Project, led by Elmstone Property Group, is set to provide 36 self-contained apartments for healthcare professionals and other essential workers.

She arrives out of the fog like clockwork. Headlights first. Then the hum of her SUV rolling into a gravel car park on a quiet stretch of the Mallee Highway. It's 7:25am. Underbool, the small country town of 215 people according to the last census, is still half-asleep. It is Tuesday. One of the two days a week when Lee Brown opens her coffee van for just 20 minutes. Lee Brown brews morning coffee in her truck five days a week.