Woman, 80, bottled & sold tap & river water as mineral water outside Shanghai park for 30 years

An 80-year-old woman in China has allegedly been filling bottles with tap or river water and selling them as branded mineral water outside an animal park in Shanghai, China.

This has reportedly been going on for 30 years, Sin Chew Daily reported.

'Fake water' tasted strange

The incident was brought to light when one tourist spent 10 yuan (S$1.90) to buy two bottles of water from her on Jul. 29, China Press reported.

After drinking the water, the tourist found that it tasted strange and realised one bottle was labelled with the manufacturing date of September 2025 and the other being February 2024, according to setn.com.

The tourist suspected that the woman was selling "fake water".

Already exposed, hard to dissuade

Prior to this, several Chinese media outlets have exposed the woman's actions as early as September 2025, Sin Chew Daily reported.

At the time, the bottled water she sold allegedly contained cloudy liquid and sediment.

Following this, local law enforcement officers were said to have repeatedly advised the woman against doing so.

However, it was difficult for them to take coercive measures due to her age and the way she would supposedly "lie down on the ground" each time they tried to dissuade her.

Officials noted that they would contact the village where she lived and try to prevent similar situations from taking place again.