Residents in a block of flats in Tampines had to go without water for over 36 hours after an underground water pipe burst. 48 families at Block 508, were affected and were forced to carry buckets of water from the void deck to their apartments.

The Tampines Town Council posted about the incident in its Facebook and said that it was informed about the problem at about 1pm on 17 Sep. It deployed its officers and contractor to the site and ensured that residents had access to alternate source for water from a neighbouring block during the period of disruption.

The town council partially restored water supply at about 7pm on 17 Sep. The next day while carrying out further pipe rectification works the gas pipe was also damaged, the town council reported. Water supply was only fully restored early this afternoon.

Residents of the affected block who spoke to the Chinese newspaper Wanbao explained how the elderly residents and mothers with newborn babies were affected by the disruption in water supply.

One resident Joyce Lim expressed her anger on the town council’s Facebook page this morning: “This happened for 2 days already. We still not getting the water supply.?”

The town council said that it was investigating the cause of the initial leak from the underground water pipe.