Quality of water upsets residents

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)