Several officials from the company have been removed from their posts and a further investigation into the accident is under way.

Calls to a press officer at Tianji Coal Chemical Industry Group went unanswered on Sunday.

Although Handan and Anyang authorities released their statements about the contamination several hours after Shanxi reported it, people were asking why Changzhi authorities had failed to issue a warning about the leak immediately after it had been discovered.

Wang Yiping, director of the information office of the Changzhi government, defended the city's measures, saying Changzhi has no need to report such cases to the provincial government if it can control pollution on its own, China News Service reported on Sunday.

"If the authorities had reported the accident on time, we could have stored some water in advance to use to flush the toilet and cook," said Wang Yang, a 25-year-old woman working at a Postal Savings Bank of China branch in Handan.

After the water supply was cut on Saturday night, Handan residents began to quickly buy bottled water, which, along with many other types of drinks, disappeared from supermarket shelves overnight.

"We ordered 1,000 boxes of bottled water today," a saleswoman at the Yangguang supermarket said.

Contact the writers at wangqian@chinadaily.com.cn and peipei@chinadaily.com.cn