Report: Fake Drinking Water Hits Beijing

Chinese State Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Yan Jiangyang drinks a glass of water at a press conference in Beijing Tuesday July 10, 2007. China's food safety watchdog promised Tuesday to probe a report that more than half of water coolers in Beijing use counterfeit branded water. The water is either tap water or purified water from small suppliers put into the water jugs and sealed with bogus quality standard marks, the Beijing Times newspaper said in a lengthy investigative report. (AP Photo/Greg Baker) (Greg Baker - AP)

BEIJING -- China's food safety monitor promised Tuesday to investigate a report that more than half of the water coolers in Beijing use counterfeit branded water.

The water is either tap water or purified water from small suppliers put into the water jugs and sealed with bogus quality standard marks, the Beijing Times newspaper said in a lengthy report Monday.

The newspaper said Tuesday local officials shut down a Beijing bottled water distributing station and seized safety seals and labels bearing the names of local brands.

Beijing's tap water is generally not safe to drink because of the city's aging pipes; boiling water leaves a white powdery residue inside pots and kettles.

Signs in luxury hotels in the capital tell guests that water has been treated and is safe to drink, but most Chinese consider it unsafe and do not drink it themselves.

An official at the government agency that monitors food safety said the report was under investigation, but noted a May inspection of Beijing's drinking water products found more than 96 percent were safe.

"Problems found with some individual cases cannot be interpreted to mean that the entire water industry has problems," Wu Jianping of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine told a news conference.

The Beijing Times investigation relied heavily on an anonymous sales manager of an unnamed well-known bottled water brand, and reporters gave firsthand accounts of the forging process at various points in the supply chain.

The report said the practice is widespread because water from major suppliers can cost twice as much as water from other sources.

Suppliers keep track of how carefully their customers inspect the deliveries, and give jugs with fake or no seals to the inattentive, the report said.

More than 10 million Chinese are regular users of drinking water machines, the China Daily newspaper reported.

A spokesman for Wahaha water, one of the victims of the counterfeiters cited by the Beijing Times, refused to give his name or comment, saying he had not read the report, and added he was leaving the office for the day.

But Li Peng, an employee of the Wahaha bottled water department in Beijing, said in a phone call, "We have found very few fake Wahaha products."

He added the news of counterfeit products will have little effect on his market, partly because each bottle has an individual number to prevent forgery.