More than 4,000 residents in Tianquan county, Ya’an, Sichuan province, are without their natural water supplies since Tuesday after goldfish used to test the river quality died.

About 100 goldfish raised in the pool of mountain springs that feeds the river were found dead on Tuesday night in Sijing village, which was hit severely by the 7-magnitude earthquake on Saturday.

Water samples have been sent to the Disease Control and Prevention Center of Sichuan province on Tuesday, and the results may be released in two or three days, Ma Zhongqiang, head of Sijing village said, according to the Nangfang Metropolis Daily on Thursday.

About 994 families from 5 villages were affected, forcing them to live on bottled water and water carried by three fire trucks. Ma said the water can only meet the basic needs of daily life but is not sufficient for bathing.