National water agency PUB has said that the tap water at Raffles City is safe for consumption.
Khoo Fang Xuan, Channel NewsAsia, 7 Oct 13;
SINGAPORE: National water agency PUB has said that the tap water at Raffles City is safe for consumption.
In a statement on Monday, PUB said it took water samples from the distribution pipe, the water mains and the water storage tank of the building on Sunday for tests -- and the lab results have showed that the water is safe for drinking.
This follows reports that in at least five restaurants at Raffles City last Friday, the water was cloudy and had a foul smell.
The water is now clear.
PUB said renovation works at the mall could have caused temporary discolouration of the water. It also noted that the issue was confined to Level 1 and Basement 1 of Raffles City.
PUB said that as an added precaution, the management of the building has carried out thorough flushing of the main distributing water pipe.
PUB will also continue to monitor the water quality.
- CNA/ac
Raffles City tap water safe, says PUB
Grace Chua, Straits Times, 7 Oct 13;
The tap water at Raffles City eateries is safe to drink, said water agency PUB on Monday, after outlets on Sunday noticed their tap water was yellowish and smelled odd.
The shopping mall flushed its water system and installed extra filters on Sunday, and water supply was restored by Sunday evening, its management said.
Eateries on the first and basement levels there had refrained from serving customers tap water as a precaution.
The PUB said water samples from the mall's distribution pipe, water mains and water storage tank were collected on Sunday evening and Monday morning for analysis, and lab tests showed the water was safe.
Raffles City eateries hit by 'weird-tasting' tap water
Grace Chua, Straits Times, 7 Oct 13;
TAP water was off the menu yesterday at Raffles City, with restaurants and food outlets complaining of an odd-smelling liquid that looked yellowish and cloudy.
All the outlets The Straits Times spoke to said they had to serve bottled water to guests.
On the ground floor, restaurants Brotzeit, Marche and Salt Tapas & Bar were all affected.
"We opened for breakfast this morning, and the water was slightly cloudy and it tasted off," said Ms Haida Hanim, a manager at German restaurant Brotzeit.
The afternoon heat had guests asking for iced water, so staff had to apologise and offer to sell them bottled water instead, she added.
"People were asking if the tap water was safe to drink... The taste was weird so we didn't want to take chances."
At Marche, staff were even using bottled water to mix drinks.
Basement outlets, including Mos Burger and Korean restaurant Bibigo, were affected as well.
Customers did not seem put off, however, and late in the afternoon, outlets began to fill up.
Australian tourist Trevor Prebble, 60, nursing a beer at Marche, suggested: "They must've been doing some work with the plumbing and disturbed it somehow."
Mr Jacke Chye, Raffles City Singapore's marketing communications head, said the mall was investigating the cause and "will continue to monitor the situation closely and put steps in place to prevent a recurrence".
He said four restaurant tenants had notified the mall's management yesterday morning that their water supply was yellowish.
"We immediately proceeded to flush their water system and install additional filters, and clear water supply has been restored," he noted.
The water tanks at the mall are cleaned regularly, and the tank in question had been cleaned two weeks ago and its water certified safe by the authorities.
Water authority PUB said it had not been informed of water quality issues, but was working with Raffles City's building management to investigate the issue.
caiwj@sph.com.sg
