Overhead pedestrian bridge construction cause of Tampines pipe leak

SINGAPORE — Preliminary investigations revealed that the damaged watermains at Tampines was caused by ongoing construction work for an overhead pedestrian bridge, said national water agency PUB.

And action against the “errant constructor” under the Public Utilities Act will be considered, it added.

On Friday (Nov 3) morning, the water supply at the Tampines bus interchange and the nearby East Link foodcourt was disrupted after a pipe at the nearby construction site began leaking.

The pipe leak took place within the construction site at the junction of Tampines Ave 5 and Tampines Central 2, according to PUB, who was informed of the incident at about 6am.

“PUB immediately sent our service crew and contractors to the site,” the agency said in a press release on Friday (Nov 3) evening.

“Our preliminary checks indicate that the pipe was dislodged by ongoing construction work.”

PUB added that the damage caused the pipe to leak and consequently provide “low water pressure to (its) customers”.

According to the agency, water supply was fully restored at 2.30pm, though repairs to the damage pipe is still in progress and is only expected to be completed by the end of Friday.

A temporary water supply had been provided to the bus interchange and the food court during the restoration period.

A 20m stretch of the road at Tampines Central 2, in the direction towards Tampines Hub, is temporarily closed to facilitate repair works, said the agency.

PUB said it will conduct further investigations ascertain how the construction work had cause the damage to the water pipe, as well as consider taking enforcement action against the errant constructor under the Public Utilities Act.

This is at least the third major pipe leak in recent weeks. 

On Oct 1, a water pipe burst near a car park in Bukit Batok East Ave 3, sending jets of water shooting up into the air.

A similar incident happened on Sept 26, when there was a pipe leak at the junction of Bukit Batok West Avenue 6 and Bukit Batok West Avenue 8.