New standards for drinking water will come into force in China on July 1, with the number of quality indicators rising to 106 from 35. While that's almost on a par with the standards used in the European Union, some experts have raised concerns about the feasibility of the new system.

"There are about 3,000 water companies in China. Judging by their production technologies and their quality-testing facilities, most still have a long way to go before they can meet the new standards," said Li Fuxing, director of the Beijing Institute of Public Health and Drinking Water.

National environmental programmes have been seeing no progress since the devolution of the Ministry of Environment two years ago.

All environmental conservation plans were approved by the Pakistan Environment Protection Council (PEPC) – the apex organisation at the national level for formulation and implementation of the national environmental policy and programmes – headed by the prime minister.

Food safety regulators in northern China have shut down production at a beverage plant owned by Coca-Cola Co. KO +1.22% as punishment after finding chlorine in a batch of drinks made in February.

In a statement on Saturday, the quality regulator in the Chinese province of Shanxi said it found during an April inspection that a batch of drinks produced by Coca-Cola (Shanxi) Beverage Ltd. was made with water containing chlorine. The statement from the Shanxi Provincial Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision refers to the suspension as a penalty for the chlorine levels.

The office of the Water Board was flooded with complaints regarding the tariff hike and the poor quality of water, during the Prajavani programme held in the main office at Khairatabad on Monday. During the two-hour programme, around 70 grievances were collected, a majority of which were regarding the tariff hike. Consumers complained that they were not aware of the increase in tariff and were shocked on receiving such huge bills.