The water supply to 20 units of an HDB block in Woodlands was cut off for more than one day, forcing some residents to shower at a nearby swimming pool.
The taps started to dry up at about 1pm on Tuesday (12 Nov) at Block 687B Woodlands Avenue 75, reported Shin Min Daily News.
Source: Google Maps
A 45-year-old resident named only as Mr Lin (transliterated from Mandarin) told Shin Min that the water flow to his flat was very weak that morning.
He thought it was due to maintenance but didn’t expect the water supply to be completely cut off in the afternoon.
Another resident, named only as Mr Lee, 70, said the water supply to his flat stopped at 1pm.
Mr Lin, who lives on the third floor, said he had gone downstairs 10 times to fetch water for his family of seven to bathe and flush toilets.
Shin Min reporters who arrived at the scene on Tuesday night saw entire families with buckets and trollies filling up water from taps typically used by cleaners at the foot of the block.
National water agency PUB also deployed water wagons to the block.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
A 42-year-old dental clinic nurse named Yati said her family only had small buckets at home, so they went to a nearby grocery store to buy two large buckets.
This was so that they had enough water for their needs overnight and the rest of Wednesday (13 Nov).
Source: Shin Min Daily News
Ms Su Meilan (transliterated from Mandarin), a 42-year-old accountant, said the queue for water stretched to the foot of the staircase at one point.
At least 20 people were in the queue at the time, she added.
Another resident, a 39-year-old engineer named only as Ms Chen (transliterated from Mandarin), said her neighbours were mostly considerate when collecting water.
Those who had filled two buckets would let others who hadn’t yet filled their buckets go first, she added, while others would lend trolleys to their neighbours.
However, for Mr Chen (transliterated from Mandarin), a 40-year-old engineer, the water supply wasn’t restored fast enough for his family.
Thus, he drove his family of seven to a nearby swimming pool for a shower, he said.
The authorities had provided each household with at least 5 litres of drinking water, but they still had to find their own water for ablutions like bathing, he added.
According to Shin Min’s observations, only residents on the second and third floors had their water supply cut off, with those living on higher floors unaffected.
There are a total of 20 flats on the two floors, with some of them having no water since 1pm, while others had their supply totally cut off only from 5pm or 6pm.
Besides residents, the water supply to a kindergarten on the first floor was affected, though it was operating as normal on Wednesday morning.
It reportedly collected water from pipes and also prepared bottled drinking water.
The town council apologised for the water supply disruption via notices posted on the second and third floors.
More than a dozen workers were also observed to be doing maintenance work in the void deck on Wednesday morning.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
However, workers told Shin Min that the water supply might not be restored until about 5pm — more than one day after it was cut off.
Also read: Farrer Park residents’ water supply cut off for about 5 hours after pipe leak
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News.
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