BY JADE CHAN

Contractors seen repairing the burst pipe along Jalan 17/1 in Section 17, Petaling Jaya. According to Syabas, water supply is expected to resume at 6am today. — Photos: JAROD LIM/The Star

RESIDENTS and business operators in parts of Petaling Jaya experienced dry taps for the past two days caused by a burst pipe on Jalan 17/1 in Section 17, Petaling Jaya.

The water disruption affected Sections 16, 17, 19 and 21, as well as SS2.

Section 16 resident Diana Chin, 22, said she was forced to use rainwater to shower upon returning home late on Tuesday night.

“The house I live in is quite old, so the water tank was unable to store sufficient water. Unfortunately, my family and I were not prepared for this disruption.

“I’ve been unable to get proper updates on when supply will return. I’ve no idea how I am going to shower if it does not rain,” she added.

The marketing executive said her mother had to go to the supermarket to buy drinking water for their household.

Pravin Rao, 45, said his family had to eat out and shower at a friend’s place as there was no water supply to their house.

Residents in affected areas such as Jalan 17/46 in Section 17, Petaling Jaya, lining up to fill up buckets and containers with water from the water tanker on the second day of the disruption.

“We are very frustrated as we cannot clean or cook at home. Our calls to Puspel (Syabas customer service centre) are also going unanswered. We need Syabas to send water to our area,” said the Section 17 resident.

Some coffeeshops and restaurants in the affected areas were partially or completely closed for business yesterday as they had no water supply.

A coffeeshop operator who wanted to be known as Madam Yong said almost all the hawkers at her premises could not run their businesses yesterday.

“Although the problem started on Tuesday, we were still able to operate using water from our water tank,” she said, adding that the tank had since dried up.

Madam Yong, who lives near her shop in Jalan 17/10, said she was forced to shower and get drinking water from a friend’s house in Kampung Kayu Ara.

“Four of the five hawkers here could not run their noodle stall and had suffered losses. I hope the water supply will return soon,” said the 55-year-old.

C.S. Tan, who runs a stall selling mixed rice, also on Jalan 17/10, said he was forced to make do with whatever he had and had to close his business earlier.

“There was some water on Wednesday morning, but the supply quickly ran out. So I could cook only a smaller selection of dishes and everything ran out by 1.30pm,” he said.

Bukit Gasing assemblyman R. Rajiv urged residents to lodge complaints and get updates on the water situation through the mySyabas smartphone app or Puspel’s Twitter and Facebook pages.

“Syabas was on-site immediately on Tuesday when the burst pipe was reported. The repairs were initially expected to be completed by Tuesday evening, but they encountered faulty joints that delayed the repairs,” said Rajiv.

“My office has been coordinating with Syabas to get water tankers to provide water to the affected neighbourhoods.

“I was informed that four tankers were sent to residential areas and SK Sri Damai on Wednesday morning.

“I’ve requested for eight tankers to be sent in the evening when there would be a surge in demand for water when people return home from work,” he said, adding that about 3,500 households in Sections 16 and 17 were affected by the water disruption.

Rajiv said according to Syabas and Air Selangor, water supply was expected to resume at 6am today.