Condo management fined for slow action on leaking pipe

(Source: GoogleMaps)

Singapore’s Public Utilities Board (PUB) announced on Wednesday (18 July) that it has ordered the management of the 47-unit Nicon Gardens in 65K Choa Chu Kang Road to pay a $2,000 fine for failing to fix a leaking pipe there in a timely manner.

In the evening of 28 June, the agency was informed that there was a water leakage at the 99-year leasehold condominium in District 23 next to the Phoenix LRT Station. It immediately sent officers and found out that an underground service pipe was leaking within the compound.

Give that the responsibility to fix this falls on the condo’s management, PUB immediately instructed them to address the leak. To facilitate quick repairs, they were given a list of licensed plumbers to hire.

But after two days, the condo management still failed to comply despite repeated reminders to expedite the repairs. In fact, the agency issued a total of three notices to quickly fix the problem from 29 June to 2 July, when the leak was finally resolved.

But because it took four days to address the leak, around 4,000 m3 of water was wasted.
This is equivalent to one and half Olympic-sized swimming pool or four times the average water consumption of Nicon Gardens per month.

“We find such deliberate water wastage unacceptable. Water is a precious resource in Singapore and everybody must do his part to conserve it,” said Ridzuan Ismail, director of water supply (network) department at PUB.

Failure to follow a PUB notice to fix a water service installation is an offence under section 15(3) of the Public Utilities (Water Supply) Regulations. As this is the first offence, the management of Nicon Gardens was fined $2,000. The maximum penalty for this offence is a fine of not more than $10,000 and/or imprisonment for up to one year.

Senior Content Producer, Christopher Chitty, edited this story