With a good natural environment and clean water sources, Tongren in Guizhou province is becoming a major base for high quality water and food in Southwest China.

"The major reason we chose Tongren as a production base is its high quality water," said Wen Shengzhao, general manager of Nongfu Spring (Guizhou) Wulingshan Beverage Co, a subsidiary of Nongfu Spring, one of China's largest bottled water producers based in Zhejiang province.

With a yearly production capacity of 600 million bottles of water, Nongfu Spring's base in Tongren has become one of its eight major production bases in China.

To ensure water sources in Tongren meet Nongfu Spring's stringent standards, the company monitored water sources in the area for five years before the first bottled water rolled off the factory line in 2014, Wen said.

"When we visited Tongren in 2007, we learned it has excellent water resources," Wen said. "Our surveyors were sent here to test the water quality, and the results showed the water is very good in all indexes."

Since then, the company has sampled water from Liulong Mountain in Tongren every month for five years and sent the samples to its testing center in Shanghai, where the water proved to be of consistently high quality, he said.

The first phase of the production base in Tongren has been completed, including a line with a production capacity of 72,000 bottles of water per hour, one of the fastest lines in the world.

The three production lines in the first phase of the project consume about 330,000 tons of water every year, and almost all bottled water from the base is sold out across China within a month of production, Wen said.

Like Nongfu Spring, Haocaitou Food Co, a major food producer based in East China's Fujian province, has also made a presence in Tongren in recent years, due to the city's well preserved ecosystem and pollution-free water.

Dong Honghai, deputy general manager of Guizhou Haocaitou Food Co, said the water in Tongren essentially has no pollution, and that its quality ranks highest of all of the company's production bases in China.

Founded in March 2015, the company's first two beverage production lines, which have an annual production capacity of 60,000 metric tons of yogurt, started production in April this year.

"The first batch of yogurt won high recognition in the market," Dong said. "Tests showed the products made in Tongren taste best of all similar products from our other plants. The popularity of the products is largely attributed to the good water in Tongren."

With more enterprises bringing investment and creating jobs in Tongren, high-level professionals have also flowed into the city.

Since Nongfu Spring Wulingshan Beverage Co began production in Tongren two years ago, the company has recruited more than 400 employees, offering them an average monthly salary about 3,500 yuan ($510) higher than the local average, Wen said.

"We are planning another factory in the Jiangkou area and will offer more job opportunities then," he said.

Dong, from Guizhou Haocaitou Food, said his company is also considering expansion in Tongren to meet increasing demands for its products.

"We are seeking more suitable water sources for our yogurt products, continuing to expand investment and diversify our business in Tongren," he said. "The number of our employees in Tongren will increase from 300 to about 1,000."

"The company is developing so quickly, and this brings many opportunities for us," Cong Shenghui, 25, said.

Cong, from Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, joined Guizhou Haocaitou Food two years ago upon graduation and is now chief of testing.

"Due to good water sources, every product made here passes our quality tests," she said. "Tongren boasts beautiful mountains and clear water, and my company also offers a good salary, so I am planning to settle down here."

According to the Tongren government's plan, annual production of natural, drinkable water is projected to reach 1.5 million metric tons by 2020, with a total value of 2.4 billion yuan. This will bring in annual government revenue of more than 300 million yuan, and 10,000 employment opportunities for locals.

"Tongren will make full use of its rich water resources to develop a robust economy and build a harmonious society," said Chen Changxu, Party chief of Tongren. "We will protect its good environment while tapping new areas for economic growth."

Wang Xiaodong and Dong Xianwu contributed to this story.

(China Daily 11/16/2016 page10)