Vice Premier Lin Hsin-yi (林信義) confirmed yesterday that a fallow project covering 18,000 hectares of farmland in Hsinchu and Taoyuan counties will be carried out and will last until the end of May in a bid to solve the water-shortage problem in the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (新竹科學園區).
If the extreme measure doesn't solve the problem, Lin said, the government may consider producing artificial rain.
The fallow project will save an average of 650,000 tonnes of water daily used to irrigate rice-growing areas of Hsinchu County and Taoyuan County.
Despite its pledge to offer compensation to the farmers affected, the government's decision still angered farmers in Miaoli County, who staged a demonstration outside the industrial park yesterday to express their discontent.
They claimed that the park had used up most of the water supply from the Yunho Mountain Dam located in Miaoli County. They also criticized the government's emergency policy as "erroneous."
However, standing firm on the government's stance, Lin said that it is the government's duty to supply a sufficient amount of water to everyone who needs it.
"Both the problem and response are temporary. In addition, the water supply at the industrial park will not be cut altogether in March as reported by the media,because we have figured out a plan to tackle the problem," he said.
The water-shortage problem at the industrial park should be resolved soon when the Shihmen Dam in Taoyuan County goes online providing a daily water supply of 80,000 tonnes to the area. The daily water demand at the park is about 110,000 tonnes.
Anticipating little rain for the remaining three months of the dry season, the government decided to implement a fallow project in Taoyuan and Hsinchu counties, which may save an average of 650,000 tonnes of water daily.
To solve the area's water-shortage problem once and for all, the government is speeding up the construction of the second Paoshan reservoir in Hsinchu County and hopes to complete it by the end of 2004.
Once it is completed, the reservoir is expected to provide 590,000 tonnes of water daily.
The government also hopes to finish laying the last 300m of pipeline connecting Shihmen Dam and Hsinchu County by April. Once it is completed, the Hsinchu area will have an additional daily water supply of 200,000 tonnes.
Of the 18 billion tonnes of water produced annually by Taiwan's reservoirs, rivers, and subterranean water supplies, 75 percent is used for agricultural purposes, while 16 percent is used by families and the remaining 9 percent is used by industry.
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