Contractor fined $8.5k over contaminated water at River Valley condo
Local contractor Everrise Maintenance was fined $8,500 by PUB for not using a licensed plumber to repair cracked pipes at a condominium in River Valley Road on Sept 8.
The national water agency said in a statement yesterday that Everrise Maintenance was convicted of causing contamination to water supplied by PUB and also of failing to ensure that regulated works were carried out by a licensed plumber.
It was fined on Dec 1.
PUB said it received calls from residents at Waterford Residence on Sept 9 that there was a smell in the water and sent officers to investigate with the condo's managing agent.
The smell was traced to one of the two compartments in a water tank, which was immediately isolated to conduct flushing works.
A full flush of the service pipes was conducted, which led to disruption of water supply to 60 residential units in the affected block for about three hours.
Further investigations revealed that Everrise Maintenance, hired by the managing agent to carry out repair works, had told its workers to patch up a crack line on the water tank without proper instructions.
The 10cm crack line was found on the external surface of the water tank cover during a site inspection with PUB and should have been repaired by a licensed plumber or by workers supervised by one.
Instead, the workers applied sealant on both the exterior and the interior of the water tank cover, contaminating the water in the tank.
Everrise Maintenance could have been fined up to $10,000 for failing to ensure that regulated works were carried out by a licensed plumber and up to $50,000 for causing contamination to water supplied by PUB.
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