Recently, my water tap burst and water was filling my bathroom quite fast in my apartment. So I ran towards the main inlet (near the water metre) to close the stopcock to stop the water flow.

Unfortunately, the stopcock was damaged thus it was unable to block the water flow. Then I called Penang Water Supply Corporation’s 24-hour hotline for assistance.

The person who answered my call said that they could only can take down my report and could only dispatch a repair team the next morning or afternoon (depending on other pending complaints) to change the damaged stopcock.

Furthermore, he said, there was no 24 hours field service to do any repair work after office hours and also that their store room (where all the spare parts are kept) was closed after office hours.

This left me with no choice but to let the water to simply flow non-stop because. I couldn't stop the main pipe because this would prevent other unit owners from getting water supply to their taps.

Fortunately, I had an old tap and I used it to fix the problem temporarily to prevent at least 50% of water for flowing out. It was not an easy task to fix the tap against the water gushing out of the pipe.

Now I have serious questions to ask:

  • Why is there 24-hour repair work available whenever there is a burst pipe say by the roadside but not for house/apartment unit owners?

  • A water pipe may burst at any time without much advance notice, so why is the Penang Water Supply Corporation not capable of understanding this simple fact despite being in this industry for decades?

  • Why should one pay extra for water charges if it is a fault of the Penang Water Supply Corporation (for having a bad stopcock)?

  • Why should one pay the extra charges if it is a fault of the Penang Water Supply Corporation for not dispatching a repair team immediately?

  • Why can't the Penang Water Supply Corporation form a 24-hour repair service team for apartments and houses since water cannot simply be left to be wasted?

    • A stopcock is a very important device in a water pipe system. If any water pipe bursts in a house, then simply turning the stopcock will stop the water flow, thus preventing water from flowing into the house.

    I shouldn't be advising you, dear Penang Water Supply Corporation but since you don't know many important things, let me give you a piece of small advice worth one penny.

    Water is essential to every human and living creature. So do not let us waste it in the name of ‘No field service la, no night repair la, store-room closed la, etc’

    All this is utter nonsense. Realise who you are and provide us the best service to help us save water.