Tokyo - Japanese water-system company Wellthy was expected to start providing drinking water to Chinese earthquake victims as early as this week, becoming one of the few private Japanese companies to offer relief services in China.

Wellthy completed the set-up of the well-water filtering system on Tuesday for about 1,500 people living in a temporary shelter camp in Miyanyang, about 150 kilometres north-east of Chengdu, to provide drinking water to 60,000 people displaced in a magnitude-8 quake.

The May 12 quake killed 70,000 people, left nearly 17,000 missing and 15 million homeless in and around China's Sichuan province.

When the Japanese company initially offered the water service, the Sichuan government refused to allow Japanese technical staff to enter the area, according to the company.

But it eventually agreed to accept the staff to set up the system, which measures about 6.3 x 4.5 metres.

The company sent a research team to the region of the shelter to test the water quality in early June.

"Earthquakes often cut off natural water supplies, and people fear that unfiltered drinking water causes diseases to spread," Wellthy company president Shoichi Fukuda said.

When Fukuda visited the region, he noticed oversized banners and flags warning about the sanitary conditions near the shelter.

Fukuda also offered the well-water filtering system to Japan's Niigata government shortly after a quake hit in July 2007 that killed at least 15 people and injured 2,300.

More than 2,500 people are still living in a temporary shelter.

But the Japanese government refused the service out of fear the water would be contaminated, Fukuda said.

The well-water system is widely used in Japanese hospitals, schools and other facilities because it can secure water sources even in time for earthquakes, according to Wellthy.

"The damage must be huge in China's devastated areas,"

"I hope victims will regain their health and energy by drinking good water," Fukuda said. (dpa)