Nongfu Spring defends its water

Zhejiang-based mineral water producer Nongfu Spring reaffirmed Monday that the com-pany strictly complies with both national and local water safety standards, in response to recent concerns raised by a Beijing-based newspaper about the quality of their product.

After the Health Bureau of Zhejiang Province announced Wednesday it would revise the local water standard that Nongfu Spring followed, the Beijing Times newspaper alleged the company had failed to meet national standards in a query sent to the company on Friday.

Based on the unrevised Zhejiang DB33/383-2005 standard, the maximum arsenic and cadmium content tolerance was double and five times respectively the levels stated in GB5749-2006, which is the current national standard for drinking water.

According to a filing from the Zhejiang quality watchdog, Nongfu is the only water producer that participated in revising the previous local rules back in 2005, that lifted cadmium levels from the original 0.005 milligram per liter (mg/L) to 0.01 mg/L.

Nongfu Spring said on its Sina Weibo account Monday that regardless of the revision, Zhe-jiang's DB33/383-2005 water standard is always the most comprehensive one around the country and the company's water quality met or even exceeds national standards.

If the Beijing Times newspaper has more questions, "we would like to answer them face to face" during the court hearing set to be held on Friday, said the company.

It filed a lawsuit in May against Beijing Times for infringement on right of reputation to Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court, demanding compensation of 60 million yuan ($9.85 million).

The company said in an earlier interview with the Global Times that it had also sub-mitted a petition on November 4 to the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications to hit back at those "false" reports of Beijing Times.

From April 10 to May 7, the Beijing Times "fabricated" opinions from national healthcare authorities and "attacked" Nongfu Spring by publishing 76 reports on 67 pages over 28 consecutive days, claiming Nongfu Spring's water quality was lower than tap water, said an announcement posted by Nongfu Spring on November 4.