Clean water from four unaffected tanks – just below the 60-foot tower where a corpse was found in one of the nine tanks there last Saturday – was used by the Municipal Council to deliver to the 2,000 residents of Taman Sri Titingan, Tuesday.

This includes a water tank that channels water to the mosque.

Tawau Municipal Council President Datuk Ismail Mayakob said the Health Department has issued a directive that all contaminated water in the affected tanks be discharged.

The directive also applies to water that came from the tanks and was stored in the houses of the residents.

He said they are waiting for special medicine from the Kota Kinabalu Health Department to be administered into all water tanks in the housing involved.

“As a precaution, we will remove the contaminated water tank and also enhance security aspects at the tower concerned by placing barbed wire and fences around it and guarded by security personnel.

“We are fencing up the area now and it will be completed within two or three days,” he said.

On some residents having abandoned their houses after being traumatised by the prospect of drinking water which was contaminated by a decomposing corpse for a week, Ismail said it was up to them.

However, he assured that as administrator of the district, the issue would be seriously handled by the Council for the good of everyone, in particular the affected residents.

He hoped the residents would be patient and prevent their children from wandering near the tower.

He also hoped that the issue would not be politicised because the incident was really unexpected.

“The incident was not deliberate or intentional, so we hope the issue would not be politicised that could affect the harmony,” he said.

On other developments, Ismail said that the council had yet to receive any report from police investigations as to the identity of the naked corpse in the water tank or on missing family members.

Last Saturday, residents of the 500 units PPR housing were horrified to discover that the whitish and foul-smelling water they had been consuming for several days was due to the decomposing body of a man floating inside one of the tanks atop the 60-foot tower.

Initial investigation showed the deceased was in his 20s.