At least once a month, my block of flats is washed. The cleaner starts at about 9am and finishes at around 3pm.

He washes the area by spraying a powerful jet of water on the floors from the 25th storey down to the ground floor.

Sometimes, another worker will use a broom to sweep away the pools of water.

The railings and bannisters, however, are not cleaned.

Once, when both lifts were not working, I had to hold onto the bannister when walking up 22 floors. When I reached my flat, the palm that I used to hold onto the bannister was black with dirt. This shows that the bannister and railings have not been cleaned for a long time, probably years.

Do the town council officers know about the tremendous amount of water used by the contractor during the six hours of washing?

It bothers me that the same thing is likely to be happening at blocks of flats across the island.

I am sure there are better ways to really clean the floors in HDB blocks, using far less water.

Anthony Wong