Residents in the suburbs of Shanghai will soon no longer depend on deep wells for water as the city tries to cut the use of underground water and enhance the water quality in outlying areas, the Shanghai Water Authority announced Thursday.

The authority will push to improve water supply to Baoshan District, where the pumping of underground water accounts for about 30 percent of the city's total consumption.

"The move is to counter the land subsidence, enhance the water quality and maintain sufficient supply in the suburban areas," said Zhang Jiayi, the authority's director.

The city's current consumption of underground water is 97 million cubic meters each year. The government aims to cut that figure to 25 million cubic meters in 2010. Each year millions of tons of tap water is pumped back to counter the subsidence.

Residents in the suburbs had to use tap water produced at the small water plants dependent on deep wells in the past, as the water distribution pipeline in the downtown area did not reach there.

To solve the problem, the Shanghai Waterworks Shibei Co, signed a contract with the Baoshan government yesterday, promising to supply water to the district.

"We will take over the small water plants there and upgrade the water treatment technology," said Li Chunhui, a spokesman for the company.

The project also calls for construction of new pipelines and water plants, as well as renovation of the supply facilities at a cost of 1.6 billion yuan (US$193 million).

(eastday.com August 5, 2004)