A?new water plant came into service yesterday which will help ease problems of shortages mainly in Minhang District over the summer peak period.

The Yuanjiang Water Plant, in the district's Maqiao Town, will initially produce 300,000 cubic meters of water a day to households in the district, said Zhou Daohong of the state-owned Shanghai Chengtou Corporation.

With the fast expansion of downtown residential complexes, Shanghai has been facing an increasing demands for tap water.

At some peak periods in summer, some neighborhoods experience a reduction in water flow or may even have to put up with short-term interruptions to the supply.

Chengtou said they would continue to expand the Yuanjiang plant and it would eventually be able to supply about 500,000 cubic meters of tap water a day. The budget for the completed project will total 612 million yuan (US$89.5 million), the company said.

Residents in downtown districts will also soon benefit from a more stable and sufficient water supply when another project is completed later this month.

The renovated Nanshi Water Plant, inside the World Expo site on the west bank of the Huangpu River, will go into service on June 30.

The plant's daily capacity will be improved from the current 400,000 cubic meters a day to 500,000.

At the same time a couple of small, old plants will close, Chengtou said.

The changes will increase Shanghai's overall urban water supply capacity to 7.38 million cubic meters per day by end of this month, which represents an improvement of 240,000 cubic meters from a year earlier, Chengtou said.

(Shanghai Daily June 16, 2009)