Lower than average rainfall across most of the nation in recent months has led to fears of water shortages, with the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) taking precautionary measures, including setting up an emergency response task force.
Water supply in 21 counties and cities is expected to worsen in the near future, due to lower average rainfall than in past years, Minister of Economic Affairs Lee Chih-kung (李世光) said yesterday.
Water supply indicators for Taoyuan and New Taipei City’s Banqiao (板橋), Xinzhuang (新莊) Linkou (林口) districts were “green” on Friday last week, suggesting supply is tight, Lee said, adding that he expects indicators for other cities and counties to soon follow suit.
Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Taipei Times
According to the Water Resources Agency, the water monitoring indicator was “blue” — indicating sufficient reserves — for all other places in Taiwan proper on Friday last week.
However, to be prepared for the worst, an emergency response task force was set up on Tuesday, Lee said, and the ministry has discussed with the Taipei Water Department the idea of “supplying southern areas with water from the north.”
The MOEA has instructed state-owned Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) to closely monitor the operations of its hydropower plants and also ordered government agencies to be ready to initiate rainmaking missions at any time, Lin said.
According to agency data, water reserves at Shihmen Reservoir (石門水庫) in northern Taiwan — which mainly supplies water to Taoyuan and New Taipei City’s Xinzhuang, Banqiao and Xinzhuang districts, as well as Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口) — were down to 66 percent capacity yesterday, compared with the Friday last week level of 72 percent, representing a daily drop of 1 percent.
Reserves were hurt as only 44mm of rain fell in the Shihmen Reservoir basin from December last year through last month — only 27 percent of the average rainfall over the same period since records have been kept.
While water reserves at Shihmen Reservoir were yesterday estimated at 133.3 million cubic meters, at least 170 million cubic meters are needed for supplies to people in its catchment area to be “relatively safe,” agency officials said.
The agency has decided to convene a meeting on Feb. 21 to discuss whether the situation at the reservoir is severe enough to impose first-stage water rationing.
Under the MOEA’s five-color monitoring scheme for water supply, “yellow” indicates the first stage of water restrictions should begin, meaning tap water pressure would be reduced during off-peak hours.
If water levels continue to drop, “orange” signals the start of second-stage restrictions, meaning that water fountains are turned off, public streets are not washed, and water to high-volume users is reduced to stabilize supplies.
In the most severe situation, “red” indicates third-stage restrictions — rationing of a region’s water supplies, by zone or by time of day, to maintain a minimum supply of water.
Agency data showed that in the three-month period from early November last year through late last month, rainfall in major water reservoirs was 1 percent to 46 percent lower than the average level in the same period in previous years.
Water reserves at key reservoirs yesterday were all lower than their capacities, the data indicated.
The Central Weather Bureau is not optimistic about rainfall in the short term, predicting that the nation is likely to see dry weather from this month through April.
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