Burst pipe in Clementi disrupts water supply to residents, businesses for 16 hours

SINGAPORE: Residents and businesses in parts of Clementi grappled with a water supply disruption for almost 16 hours after a pipe burst in the early hours of Monday (Nov 25).

The incident occurred next to Block 324 Clementi Avenue 5 and caused flooding on the ground floor. 

National water agency PUB said in a Facebook post on Monday afternoon that the burst pipe was a 150mm-diameter water main at a nearby construction site.

About 70 households on the lower floors of Blocks 324 and 325, as well as businesses on the ground floor, experienced disruption to their water supply. 

After being alerted to the incident at about 1.30am on Monday, PUB said it dispatched its service crew to the scene to isolate the leak and begin repair works. 

A water wagon was deployed to provide temporary water supply to the affected residents and businesses.

PUB said the water supply was fully restored at 5pm.

Besides PUB, the Land Transport Authority and the Jurong-Clementi Town Council also helped affected residents, said Member of Parliament for Jurong GRC Tan Wu Meng.

Mr Tan visited the site on Monday morning, where he met representatives of the agencies and residents. 

A video shared by Mr Tan shows the block's surrounding walkways flooded with murky water.

In a comment to that post, Facebook user Nazree Nazzeer said he reported the matter via the essential maintenance service unit hotline at about 1.15am.

"I was the only one at the void deck as I’m sure most residents are sound asleep and had no clue what had happened," he said.

"NO MORE WATER"

Checks by CNA on Monday afternoon found that the burst pipe was within an LTA work site. Four PUB trucks were also parked in the area. 

Plastic boxes containing 5-litre bags of PUB drinking water were also seen at the void deck. 

Two residents who wanted to remain anonymous picked up two bags of water at about 3pm and confirmed that there was no water in their homes.

A resident from the third floor of Block 324, who wanted to be known as Mr Tan, told CNA that the water supply had been cut off since late Sunday night.

“Actually at about midnight, there was already no more water. I came out to wash something (and turned on the tap), and no more water. Then I saw downstairs, the water all burst.”

The resident said he asked PUB officers stationed around the block what time the water supply would be restored, and they said they would try to do so by 8pm on Monday.

Another resident on the second floor spoke to CNA as he collected six bags of water for his household. At about 3am, he wanted to take a shower and found that there was no water.

The man, who only wanted to be known as Mr Lim, said he went to the void deck in the early hours of Monday as he heard a commotion downstairs. He found that the area around the block was flooded.

Mr Lim added that PUB said it would try to restore the water supply by 8pm.

BUSINESSES HIT

Taps ran dry at neighbouring Block 325, with some stalls at the coffee shop operating without water for most of Monday. 

Block 325 houses several businesses, including two coffee shops, a hair salon, a clinic and a provision store. 

Mr Ma Jian Jun, who runs a noodle stall at Block 325, confirmed that their water supply had been cut off since Monday morning. When he arrived at 6am, he was told to use the water supplied by the PUB trucks.

He was also given a notice, seen by CNA, that said PUB would be carrying out pipeline operations and that the water supply would be disrupted between 11.30pm on Sunday to 5pm on Monday.

Mr Ma has been collecting water in buckets to rinse his cooking utensils since Monday morning.

He decided to serve his customers with disposable plastic containers for today, rather than continuously collect water to wash the dishes.

He also turned down takeaway orders, since he usually needs to rinse the noodles with cold water before packing them up.

“There’s no water from the tap today, so I can’t rinse the noodles with water, they’ll get sticky. So I told them I won’t be doing takeaways today,” he said in Mandarin, adding that business has definitely been affected as a result.

“But I can understand, there’s nothing we can do since it’s a burst pipe. It’s not like it was someone’s fault.”

The owner of Hair Fax salon at Block 325, who only wanted to be known as Mr Fu, said he had to turn away several customers since there was no water.

“We can only give haircuts today, we can’t do anything else since we can’t wash hair. Will they be compensating us?” he asked.

“Of course, business has been affected, but it’s only been a day so it’s not that serious. Hopefully, this doesn’t continue for too long.”

Workers were stationed around Blocks 324 and 325 to help residents collect water.

Residents could choose between the 5-litre bags or fill their own buckets at a water truck at the nearby carpark.

There were more workers at the void deck of Block 324 who were ready to assist those who needed help carrying the bags.

The incident comes after a PUB underground pipe burst at Block 705 and Block 725 of Clementi West Street 2 on Sunday morning.

Residents from levels two to five of the blocks were affected and void deck wash area taps were turned on for those who needed access to water, said the West Coast Town Council in a Facebook post on Sunday morning. 

In an update at around 4.15pm on Sunday, it said the pipe for Block 705 had been repaired.