What else can he do to appease the 150 angry Woodlands Drive residents who might have also consumed the water before the clean-up? Is changing the water tank, pipes and taps for free enough? Or he has to ask the town council to apologise and compensate the residents for the late notice?
Woodlands residents voice anger
By Jessica Lim
The water tank in which a maid was found dead. Mr Vikram Nair helms a block forum and dialogue with residents of 686B Woodlands Drive 73, where a maid was found dead in a water tank, to assuage their concerns on the water they are consuming. Prayers were conducted over the water tanks at about 3pm. -- PHOTO: ST FILE
ABOUT 150 angry Woodlands Drive residents took their town council to task on Saturday for its lack of transparency and failure to keep its water tanks safe.
They had showed up at a dialogue session at the void deck of Block 686B in Woodlands Drive 75 - the block where an Indonesian maid was allegedly murdered and thrown into a water tank last week.
All wanted to know one thing: Why didn't the town council tell them to stop consuming the water immediately?
The police received a call at about 10am last Monday about a body found in the tank. Water supply to the block was cut off an hour later, after which residents were handed notices that said maintenance work was being done. But many said they still consumed the water from the affected tank, the residual amount left in the pipes, till as late as 5pm that day.
'The town council should have told us more. I was still using the water to bathe and rinse my mouth,' said resident Edwin Hong, 40, at the dialogue attended by representatives from the town council, the Public Utilities Board and Sembawang GRC MP Vikram Nair.
'Maybe they could not tell us exactly what happened. But at the very least, they should have told us not to consume the water due to suspected contamination.'
Woodlands residents voice anger
By Jessica Lim

The water tank in which a maid was found dead. Mr Vikram Nair helms a block forum and dialogue with residents of 686B Woodlands Drive 73, where a maid was found dead in a water tank, to assuage their concerns on the water they are consuming. Prayers were conducted over the water tanks at about 3pm. -- PHOTO: ST FILE
ABOUT 150 angry Woodlands Drive residents took their town council to task on Saturday for its lack of transparency and failure to keep its water tanks safe.
They had showed up at a dialogue session at the void deck of Block 686B in Woodlands Drive 75 - the block where an Indonesian maid was allegedly murdered and thrown into a water tank last week.
All wanted to know one thing: Why didn't the town council tell them to stop consuming the water immediately?
The police received a call at about 10am last Monday about a body found in the tank. Water supply to the block was cut off an hour later, after which residents were handed notices that said maintenance work was being done. But many said they still consumed the water from the affected tank, the residual amount left in the pipes, till as late as 5pm that day.
'The town council should have told us more. I was still using the water to bathe and rinse my mouth,' said resident Edwin Hong, 40, at the dialogue attended by representatives from the town council, the Public Utilities Board and Sembawang GRC MP Vikram Nair.
'Maybe they could not tell us exactly what happened. But at the very least, they should have told us not to consume the water due to suspected contamination.'