Nongfu Spring's barreled water suspended

Production of barreled drinking water branded Nongfu Spring, one of China's largest bottled-water producers, has been suspended in Beijing due to misuse of the quality standard, Beijing Times reported on Monday.

The factory authorized by Nongfu Spring Co to produce barreled drinking water in the Huairou district of Beijing stopped production a week ago, according to a security guard at the factory cited by the newspaper, who did not give a reason for the suspension.

Beijing's bureau for quality supervision, inspection and quarantine confirmed on Sunday that it has ordered the factory to suspend production of barreled drinking water in Beijing because the factory had been adopting a quality standard made by the government of Zhejiang province, where the headquarters of the company is based, instead of a national standard, the report said.

Producers of drinking water in Beijing normally follow national standards because there is no local standard for the production of drinking water in Beijing, the report said.

Water stored in barrels, that usually have a capacity of 19 liters, is provided for drinking at home and in offices by a number of companies.

Nongfu Spring, a bottled water and barreled water producer with a domestic market share of more than 20 percent in China, has been accused of adopting water standards made by Zhejiang, which is lower than the updated national standards for bottled water.