Third-phase water rationing measures are to be postponed for a week in Kaohsiung as the Gaoping River’s (高屏溪) water level is above the low-warning level, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
“If there is sufficient water in the Gaoping River, we should use it instead of letting it flow into the ocean,” Water Resources Agency Chief Secretary Lai Chien-hsin (賴建信) said by telephone.
Lai said that unlike Taoyuan and New Taipei City, which have the Shihmen Reservoir (石門水庫) to store additional water, Kaohsiung relies heavily on the unstable flow of the Gaoping River.
“If we are not using the water when it has sufficient flow, then we are wasting it,” he added.
Lai said that even if the third-phase water rationing measures are implemented in Kaohsiung, the ministry would suspend the measures with immediate effect when the river’s flow rises above 8.1 cubic meters per second.
Given the nature of Kaohsiung’s water supply, the ministry would review and announce water rationing measures on a weekly basis, Lai said.
The third-phase water rationing measures would affect 965,000 people, including 2,959 industrial users, the ministry said.
The Industrial Development Bureau said most of the industrial users accepted the ministry’s decision that it would announce water supply policy on a weekly basis, as the decision suggests that third-phase water rationing measures would not be in force for long stretches of time.
While third-phase water rationing measures have not yet been implemented in Kaohsiung, the government has cut 10 percent from the daily water supply to industrial users.
The ministry said it previously planned to implement third-phase rationing in Kaohsiung on Monday, but it delayed a decision on whether to implement the measures until a meeting on Friday next week.
Separately, state-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said it would cut the wholesale price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) this month to reflect declining costs due to falling shipping rates and the appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the US dollar.
Effective today, prices for household LPG are to drop by NT$0.6 per kilogram and NT$0.4 per liter for LPG used in cars, CPC said in a statement.
After the adjustments, the new price for household LPG is NT$24.96 per kilogram, while the price for a 20kg household gas cylinder is to be cut by NT$12, CPC said.
The wholesale price for LNG is to decline 7.92 percent on average, it said. The new price for household LNG is NT$14.31 per cubic meter.
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