South Australians have been warned they could end up with faeces on the bathroom floor if sewers become blocked with newspaper, wet wipes and tissues.

Key points: Removing wet wipes and other "unflushable" objects from the sewer network costs SA $400,000 annually

Removing wet wipes and other "unflushable" objects from the sewer network costs SA $400,000 annually SA Water — which has retrieved numerous strange items from the network, including a rubber chicken — advises against flushing even tissue paper

SA Water — which has retrieved numerous strange items from the network, including a rubber chicken — advises against flushing even tissue paper The phenomenon of "panic buying", which led to the toilet paper shortage, has been labelled "un-Australian" by the PM

Despite the Prime Minister labelling the behaviour of panicked shoppers "ridiculous" and "un-Australian", supermarket shelves continue to be stripped of toilet paper, leaving others to face the prospect of going without.

SA Water's Anna Jackson said the utility was concerned by "advice" posted on social media about what people could use instead.

"Paper towels, wet wipes, baby wipes, even tissues, are designed not to break down, are tough and strong, and therefore get caught in our sewer network and create blockages," she said.

"The unfortunate side effect of a blockage in a sewer network is that everything that was meant to go down the pipe comes back up.

"We don't want people to be dealing with things on their bathroom floor."

SA Water has kept some of the unlikely items it retrieves from the sewer network on display at Bolivar. ( Supplied: SA Water )

The unflushables

Since mid-2019, SA Water has been trying to educate the public about the cost of fatbergs, or clumps of items flushed down the toilet that did not break up and consequently blocked piping.

Each year the utility spends about $400,000 to remove and dump blockages from the sewer network.

Ms Jackson said wet wipes were the main problem, but there had also been "some very weird" finds as well.

"We have found a rubber chicken, mobile phones are quite common, and drivers licences — we've seen them too," she said.

"Some of them will make it all the way to the treatment plant at Bolivar, where we've got a display cabinet that has some of the more unusual things that have come through the network."

Put it in the bin

Ms Jackson said she understood the challenges people were facing because of the shortage of toilet paper, but said they needed to understand the consequences of flushing alternatives into the system.

"We need to make sure that if you are reaching for an alternative to use in the bathroom, that you are putting it in a bin in the bathroom, and that bin is emptied into the outdoor bin regularly," she said.

"It's really important that people only flush toilet paper, wee and poo down the toilet.

"The real point is about public health and hygiene and you really need to keep the sewage in the sewer network, so we need people to work with us on this."

Stop being 'un-Australian'

Prime Minister Scott Morrison today took aim at so-called "hoarders" — those buying up large amounts of goods from supermarkets — and told them to "stop it".

"It's ridiculous, it's un-Australian and it must stop," he said.

As well as toilet paper, items becoming increasingly difficult to find included soap, disinfectants, antibacterial handwash and long-life foods.

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Mr Morrison said there was no reason for people to be "hoarding supplies in fear of lock down or anything like that" and that the behaviour was "distracting attention" from the focus on maintaining supply chains into shopping centres.

"It is not sensible, it is not helpful, and it has been one of the most disappointing things I have seen in Australian behaviour in response to this crisis," he said.

"I would ask people to do the right thing by each other in getting a handle on these practices."

SA Premier Steven Marshall said it was "unhelpful for people to be panicking at this stage regarding food".