URUMQI - Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region plans to build 59 reservoirs among its ice-capped mountains to harness the water run-off from melting glaciers in spring and summer, local authorities said Wednesday.

The reservoirs are to be built on three mountains, the Tianshan, Kunlun and Altay, with a goal of collecting water from the melting ice in spring and summer for irrigation use, said officials with the region's Water Resources Department.

Construction on the first reservoir began in early October with a total investment of 8.67 billion yuan ($1.37 billion) in the Aratax village of the city of Kashi in the Kunlun Mountains, officials said.

Xinjiang's glacial resources account for 40 percent of China's total, but only a small fraction of the run-off water is being used. Water from melting glaciers and ice accounts for only 40 percent of the water used by people living in the southern Tianshan Mountains, and even less for those living in the northern Tianshan Mountains, according to a survey conducted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xinjiang branch.

Without reservoirs, the water from melting glaciers often leads to flooding in spring and summer, and can cause economic losses rather than being used by people, they said.

Climate change has contributed to the glaciers melting faster in recent years, so the future reservoirs could greatly relieve water shortages in the two basins along the Tianshan Mountains, officials said.

Xinjiang has about 500 reservoirs, but few have been built in mountains to store water from melted glaciers.