Beijing is striving to assign a serial number to every barrel of drinking water sold in the city, in a bid to phase out counterfeit products.

The Beijing Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision announced on Saturday that all water coolers will be sold with a serial number on them by March 2008. With this number buyers can check on the authenticity of their supplier by calling: 95001111 or going online: www.95001111.com.

Searching for a bogus serial number will return an error report.

Currently, bigger brands including Robust and Wahaha have begun using the scheme on their products.

A number of unauthorized workshops have been found in the city, where substandard tap water was poured into barrels and then sealed and sold with quality standard marks. 

(CRI.cn September 17, 2007)