SINGAPORE - Madam Lim had been looking forward to an afternoon shower on April 13, but her plans were dashed when she realised her water supply had been cut.
“I turned the tap only to find there was totally no water, and it was the same for all other taps in my house,” said the retired clerk, who lives in a 12th-floor unit at Block 485 Segar Road and noticed the outage around 1.30pm.
The disruption, which lasted about three hours, was caused by a defective relay switch in the block’s control panel, the town council said in response to queries. It added that the defect has since been fixed.
“I went to ask my neighbours on the same floor, but not all of them were affected,” the 64-year-old said, adding that the coffeeshop below her block also had its water supply cut.
Madam Lim, who wanted to be known only by her last name, said she called the Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council hotline and was told multiple reports of a water outage had been received from the area.
The town council also told her she could collect water from the foot of the block, and that work to restore the water supply was already ongoing.
When contacted, Holland-Bukit Timah GRC MP Edward Chia said he was alerted to the water disruption earlier that day and quickly informed the town council to rectify the issue, adding that water supply was restored at 3pm.
Only one block was affected, he said.
“Subsequently, the team visited units to ensure water supply pressure was adequate. The team is also conducting a flushing operation to clear sediments that may cause cloudiness in the water,” said Mr Chia.
The town council said that the following day, its team also joined Mr Chia on house visits to affected residents to check on them.
This is not the first time Bukit Panjang residents have experienced a water disruption.
In March 2023, there was a three-hour water outage at the Senja Ridges Build-to-Order project, local news outlet Today reported.
That outage, which was caused by an electrical fault, was the second water supply disruption residents there suffered within a three-month period.
