The government is likely to impose phase-two water rationing measures on New Taipei City’s Banciao (板橋) and Sinjhuang (新莊) districts, as well as on Greater Taoyuan’s Linkou District (林口) after the Lunar New Year holiday, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
“The water level of the Shihmen Reservoir (石門水庫) in Taoyuan is currently 50.79 percent and will drop to below 50 percent soon, marking the lowest level in the past 11 years,” Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Yang Wei-fu (楊偉甫) told a news conference after a water supply meeting.
He said that based on Shihmen Reservoir’s water level and the latest weather forecast, it is very likely that the ministry will enact stricter water supply measures to the aforementioned areas after the Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb. 19, affecting the water supply for about 1,400 high-level consumers.
Photo: CNA
Yang said second-phase water rationing supplies 20 percent less water to non-industrial high consumers of water and public swimming pools, and 5 percent less water to industrial users. The government will also suspend supply of water for public fountains and street cleaning services, he added.
Yang said that aside from areas using water from the Shihmen Reservoir, areas that are supplied by reservoirs with water levels at less than 50 percent are also highly likely to face the second-phase measures.
Miaoli County’s Mingte Reservoir (明德水庫) and Yunghoshan Reservoir (永和山水庫), and Hsinchu’s Baoshan Reservoir (寶山水庫) are currently below 50 percent capacity, the agency’s data showed.
The ministry is working to not have the nation endure second-phase water rationing before the upcoming holiday and avoid having to enact stricter water supply measures by the end of May, Yang said.
However, “these objectives are very hard to achieve,” he added.
Yang said the ministry would decide whether to suspend irrigation water from Miaoli County’s Chungkang Creek (中港溪) on Jan. 29 and whether to suspend the supply of water from Shihmen Reservoir on Feb. 10.
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