'Snow' flows from water pipe in Bishan HDB block, residents worry about slippery floor

About once or twice every month, residents of Block 173 Bishan Street 13 would experience "snow" falling at the void deck.

It is not a bizarre weather phenomenon, but soap bubbles flowing out from a pipe at the ground floor of the block, leaving residents concerned about safety and environmental cleanliness, Shin Min Daily News reported yesterday (Feb 6).

A resident surnamed Lu (transliteration) shared that he was passing by the block on Jan 29 and didn't notice the soapy water on the floor at first.

"Bubbles floated towards my face all of a sudden and as I looked up, I realised there were a lot of white bubbles in the air, which looked like snow falling," the 40-year-old engineer said.

He observed foam coming out from a pipe near the ceiling in the void deck and were floating around because of the strong winds. There was also a large amount of soapy water on the floor, flowing towards the drain.

A housewife said she is worried her children would slip on the water and they would always avoid the area, while another female resident surnamed Zheng (transliteration), shared that the issue would happen once or twice every month and the soap suds on the floor is unsightly.

Residents also told reporters that staff from the town council had gone to every unit asking for information previously and had also given out flyers, hoping to find the cause of the issue.

The Chinese daily spoke to a few plumbers and one of them said that they would usually connect water pipes based on the architect's plan.

He added, pipes labelled R1 and R2 on the ground floor of HDB blocks are used to drain rainwater, and if there are soap bubbles flowing out of it, it is likely a resident had connected their washing machine to the wrong pipe.

[[nid:729518]]

yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com