Quality of water upsets residents

TANGERANG (JP): Residents in the Bumi Kelapa Dua complex in Curug district have been complaining since Monday about the quality of water supplied to their houses by the state-owned tap water company PDAM.

"I was really surprised when I saw that the color of the drinking water had changed into light brown in the morning," said housewife Wati yesterday.

Other residents said that the color and the smell of the drinking water at their residence has been that strange since Monday.

"We are afraid to use it for cooking and drinking but we have no choice when taking a bath," said another housewife.

"The color was a mixture of brown and white with some suds on the top of it," she said.

"It smells like iron," said another resident.

According to residents from a district near the Lippo Karawaci mega shopping, business and housing project, the pipe water was clear but changed color after remaining in a container for some time.

So far there have been no reports of stomach and skin irritations or any other disease in the area but residents urged the authorities to take prompt actions." Otherwise it can cause more serious problems," one resident said.

Staff at the local PDAM branch office at Cimone promised to take samples of water in the area for laboratory test.

"There's no report about any repairs or work on water facilities linked to the Bumi Kelapa Dua housing complex, but we will promptly ask our personnel to get some samples from the area," Nichwan, an employee at the Cimone PDAM office, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

Unfortunately, as of yesterday evening, the expected PDAM personnel failed to appear to take the samples which some of the residents have prepared. (bsr)