Sungei Merah Stories : Well Water

This is the story of a well dug by my paternal grandfather in Sungei Merah.

When he first moved to the hill in Sg. Merah, piped water was not yet availalbe so he took special pains to find some well water. By the blessings of God, he managed to find water seeping out at the foot of "his" hill (Foochow call this San Kah". He was very resourceful.


In those days they did not have the technology to cement the wall of the well so it was just a huge hole in the ground.  He put a few planks around the hole to protect the walls of the well from falling back into the hole. The planks also helped the ground from becoming too marshy.

The planks also marked the presence of the well at the bottom of the hill.

For household use, he also had a concrete tank built inside the big house and he had pipes all over the house , which later became very useful when piped water was supplied by the government. 

During extremely dry weather, all the people in the Kwong Ang area , as this place is called even up to today, used his well water.

I remember helping my aunts do some laundry and carry water up the hill during the dry season. My grandfather was very generous and he never grudged any one using the well water.

May God bless all those who lived around that area and all those who enjoyed using the well water.