KLANG, MALAYSIA: For two weeks, the 400 residents of the Golden Villa Condominium thought there was something fishy about their water.

It smelled and tasted strange, and 18 people had complained of diarrhoea, vomiting, rashes and fever.

It was only on Thursday that they discovered what it was they'd been drinking.

Sewage had been leaking into the main water tank on the ground floor of Block A of the complex in Jalan Kampung Jawa.

Tracing the foul smell to the tank, members of the residents' committee found faeces floating in the water.

The sewerage pipes had been built just above the tank and one had broken, leaking onto the cement slab on top of it.

Residents' association secretary Mohd Daniel Abdullah said the foul smell had been around for about two weeks.

"On Thursday, the smell was so strong that we had to check the place at night."

Water to the six-storey ap-artment block was cut immediately.

Syabas has placed two large portable tanks on the ground floor to supply the residentswith water until the fault is rectified.

Sri Muda assemblyman Mat Shuhaimi Shafiei, who visited the condo yesterday, said he was shocked such a design was approved.

He said it would take about 10 days to clean and disinfect two rooftop tanks, the piping and the main tank, adding that the Klang Municipal Council would see to the clean-up.

He said it was clear the water intake room and the water tanks were poorly maintained, adding that this was just one of the problems residents had raised before.

For example, residents had complained that the buttons in the lift were missing and they had to pry the lift doors open.

Shuhaimi said he would meet the authorities to get the sewerage pipes moved and to resolve other problems in the condominium complex.