<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Water vouchers for needy families
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Mr Domon Ong (left), 20, a student from ITE College West, helping to install a water-saving tap and showerhead for Mr Ng Mong Yin, 68, in his HDB flat. -- ST PHOTO: JOYCE FANG
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->UP TO 200 needy families living in the South West District will be given monthly vouchers worth up to $30, which they can use to cover part of their water bills.
A sum of $25,000 has been set aside to pay for these until next March.
In return for this financial help, the families will have to play their part to save water: Water-saving devices will be installed in their homes.
To qualify for these vouchers, which will be given out for up to three months at a time, these families should be earning no more than $2,500 a month.
The help scheme launched yesterday follows up on the South West Community Development Council's handing out of vouchers for electricity bills.
South West District mayor Amy Khor said grassroots leaders had told the council that residents were chalking up arrears in their water bills as well.
In the district, the number of people applying for social assistance has gone up from about 600 every month in the first quarter of last year to about 1,000 every month in the same period this year.
Student volunteers from ITE College West will go to the homes of eligible families to install devices such as water-efficient showerheads and thimbles for taps.
The cost of these devices will be borne by either the PUB or the South West CDC - PUB will sponsor households whose water usage is higher than national average; the CDC will pay for the rest and if the programme extends beyond next March.
Madam Oh Guan Ngo, 64, who lives with her 68-year-old husband in a four-room flat, will get the vouchers.
With the couple taking care of seven grandchildren on weekdays, their water bill is about $60, more than a third of their $150 utility bill.
ANG YIYING
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Mr Domon Ong (left), 20, a student from ITE College West, helping to install a water-saving tap and showerhead for Mr Ng Mong Yin, 68, in his HDB flat. -- ST PHOTO: JOYCE FANG
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->UP TO 200 needy families living in the South West District will be given monthly vouchers worth up to $30, which they can use to cover part of their water bills.
A sum of $25,000 has been set aside to pay for these until next March.
In return for this financial help, the families will have to play their part to save water: Water-saving devices will be installed in their homes.
To qualify for these vouchers, which will be given out for up to three months at a time, these families should be earning no more than $2,500 a month.
The help scheme launched yesterday follows up on the South West Community Development Council's handing out of vouchers for electricity bills.
South West District mayor Amy Khor said grassroots leaders had told the council that residents were chalking up arrears in their water bills as well.
In the district, the number of people applying for social assistance has gone up from about 600 every month in the first quarter of last year to about 1,000 every month in the same period this year.
Student volunteers from ITE College West will go to the homes of eligible families to install devices such as water-efficient showerheads and thimbles for taps.
The cost of these devices will be borne by either the PUB or the South West CDC - PUB will sponsor households whose water usage is higher than national average; the CDC will pay for the rest and if the programme extends beyond next March.
Madam Oh Guan Ngo, 64, who lives with her 68-year-old husband in a four-room flat, will get the vouchers.
With the couple taking care of seven grandchildren on weekdays, their water bill is about $60, more than a third of their $150 utility bill.
ANG YIYING
