Residents Was Buying Panic And Hoarding, Shanghai Authority Make Sure Water Supply And Quality Is Safe

Illustration of Shanghai, China. (Wikimedia Commons/dawvon)

JAKARTA - The Shanghai authorities, China, are trying to calm the unrest of residents who are followed by panic buying clean water, saying the city's water supply remains normal, eliminating concerns about water shortages and quality.

Shanghai residents rushed to stockpile packaged water amid rumors the city was facing a supply crisis caused by a long drought in the Yangtze River valley this year, as well as saltwater intrusions at the mouth of the river.

The flow of sea water into the Shanghai reservoir, which began running low in early September, with city water supply companies closely monitoring the situation,'scientially' making water flow adjustments, the city government said on WeChat's official channel late Tuesday.

"Production and supply of normal tap water, and water quality standards have been achieved," he said.

Shanghai experienced a wave of panic buying earlier this year, amid fears of food and water shortages caused by COVID-19 lockdowns across the city, lasting for more than two months.

Residents are also concerned about a series of announcements on Tuesday saying water supplies would be cut off in some parts of the city. However, a government spokesman said on his WeChat channel, this is a routine fix aimed at cleaning pipelines.

It is known that 60 percent of rainfall has fallen in parts of the Yangtze River valley since July, forcing authorities to deploy cloud seeding rockets and dig new emergency wells, to ensure plants are sufficiently irrigated ahead of fall harvests.

Poyang Lake, Yangtze's main flood outlet, is at the lowest level of water discharge on record, while several reservoirs in China were reported last month in a 'death pool' status, meaning they don't have enough water to flow downstream.