Hundreds of households in an apartment building in Ho Chi Minh City have voiced their outcry over dirty, yellow, and foul-smelling tap water for the past few days.

The problem at the The Mansion apartment building in Phong Phu Commune, Binh Chanh District remains unfixed despite residents’ repeated complaints.

Stinky water deters residents from bathing

The tap water in the apartment building has turned yellow and contained sediment over this past year, fearing households there.

The water flowing into the building comes out yellow and contains sediment every two or three months.

However, over this past week, many households have detected the quality of water worsening.

The water is putrid and has much sediment.

Removing a homemade water filter out of the faucet, Le Cuong, a resident living on the 14th floor of the apartment building, expressed his shock at the dirty water.

The pieces of fabric used to filter the water came out yellow.

“We buy clean water, but we have been using dirty water for a long time,” Cuong said.

“Due to fears over a serious health risk for my family members, we have used bottled water to cook and drink over this past year.

“The tap water is only used for washing and bathing.

“But we have refrained from using it as it gets smellier.”

Many households in the building are resorting to pieces of fabric and white silk cotton to create filters, noticing that the pieces of fabric and white silk cotton turned yellow, brown, crusted with sediment, and oily after a short time, he added.

Many residents worried that the dirty water would ruin their health.

“The tap water is yellow and stinky, forcing me to double the volume of fabric softener, but the unpleasant smell of the water remains in the clothes,” said Tuyet Hong, a resident of the building.

“The life of residents here has been turned upside down by dirty water.”

Many families in the building have either bought water filters or made ones by themselves to partially reduce the dirt of the water for temporary use.

Water remains dirty, though water tank is cleaned

A representative of the The Mansion apartment management board said that the water tank and pipes were cleaned on March 23 after residents had made complaints about the problem.

After working with the water supplier, the management board concluded that the building’s water tank is connected with the water supply system for fire protection, leading to the disgusting smell of the tap water.

The old water of this system leaked and flowed into the water tank, which deteriorated, thereby absorbing the dirty water easily.

The management board has pumped the water out of the tank to address the problem, apart from replacing valves for the water supply system for fire fighting and prevention to prevent leakage.

Some residents in the building told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Sunday that the quality of water has improved, but the water remains smelly and has sediment.

The management board is considering installing a makeshift tank that can contain 30-40 cubic meters of water to supply to residents.

A representative of the water supplier in Ho Chi Minh City said that the tap water of the The Mansion apartment building turned yellow and foul-smelling since the water tank of the building was dirty.

The representative explained that the dirty water resulted from the pipes crusted with sediment.

After checking the tank and testing the quality of the water, the firm asked the management board to rinse the tank and repair it. 

The representative affirmed that the water supplied to resident from the water supply plant is clean and safe.

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