Shanghai?is installing monitoring systems at local corporations to help them save water, officials said yesterday.

Some 50 monitoring facilities have been fitted at some 30 local companies that use more than 50,000 cubic meters of water every month.

Another 70 companies will have to install the system by 2018, Gui Yi, water saving department director with Shanghai Water Authority, said at the beginning of the annual water saving week nationwide.

"Some of the companies have found leaks in their water pipelines through the monitoring system and saved a large quantity of water," Gui said.

In other efforts to save water, Shanghai will also change 20,000 old taps this year for residents in old neighborhoods in Hongkou and Zhabei districts free of charge, the authority said.

Gui said the new taps will use about 30 percent less water.

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