Shanghai's water authority has been criticized for not offering informative responses to people enquiring about results of the city's water quality testing in the wake of back-to-back scandals over suspected contamination.

Three cases have been made public of people receiving unsatisfactory replies from authorities reluctant to reveal data or monitoring methods of water quality testing, caixin.com reported Tuesday.

Doubts were raised about water quality in the Huangpu River, which provides 22 percent of Shanghai's tap water, after more than 16,000 dead pigs were recovered from the river last month.

On Monday, around 250 kilograms of dead carp were recovered from a pond in the city's Songjiang district.

Li Jun, a Shanghai-based lawyer, filed an application with the environmental protection bureau of Songjiang district enquiring about the government's water quality testing since the pig-dumping scandal.

On March 28, Li received a letter from the bureau informing her a reply could not be given because her application did not comply with Shanghai information-seeking regulations.

Li argued that the reply was unacceptable, insisting that she filed her application in accordance with regulations.

Xiaodao (pseudonym), a university student living in Shanghai, filed a similar application with the Shanghai water authority in mid-March enquiring about testing.

The enquiry requested the locations and monitoring methods and data of water quality testing.

In a reply dated April 3, the authority refused to make public its water quality monitoring data, saying it was not its duty to disclose such information.

It advised the applicant to take the matter up with the Shanghai municipal environmental protection bureau.

A Shanghai netizen under the username "Xiaolanzhou" received a reply from the Shanghai water authority advising him to search online for results after filing a similar water quality enquiry.

Global Times