Water supply to be cut for some on weekends

The Cabinet's drought disaster-relief center yesterday decided that third-stage water rationing in parts of the north would begin on Monday, and that some residents of the region could -- barring an act of god -- have their water cut during weekends beginning on May 18.

The measures are a bid to preserve water supplies for industrial zones, said Kuo Yao-chi (郭瑤琪), executive-general of the relief center.

Areas to be affected by the weekend cut-offs are all of Taoyuan County and 10 townships of Taipei County, including Panchiao (板橋), Tucheng (土城), Hsinchuang (新莊), Sanshia (三峽), Yingko (鶯歌), Shulin (樹林), Linkuo (林口), Taishan (泰山), Luchou (蘆洲) and Wuku (五股).

In these areas, water supplies will be unavailable between midnight Friday and noon Sunday.

Officials said the new measures would only affect areas supplied by the Shihmen Dam (石門水庫), Taoyuan County. As of yesterday, water reserves at the reservoir were only 4.8 percent of capacity.

Kuo said that imposing water cut-offs during the weekends would cause as little disruption as possible to industrial enterprises.

"We will examine the issue every Thursday to see if rationing measures need to be adjusted as circumstances warrant," Kuo said.

According to the center, the first stage of water rationing, imposed nationwide on May 3, has reduced water consumption by 7 to 12 percent in some counties.

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday reiterated that the city would not copy the central government's weekend cut-off measures.

"Most water in the city is for residential use. Leaving people with no water during the weekend would be our last resort," Ma said.

Ma said that the city's drought measures would be imposed based on its own evaluations.

Beginning Monday, Taipei City will cut water services for 24-hour periods, district by district, on a rotating basis. The city has been divided into five such districts and cut-off times will run from 4am to 4am.

The relief center also decided yesterday to offer farmers affected by the recent fallow land project at least NT$90,000 per hectare as compensation, if rain fails to come by May 15.

If rain does come by then, Kuo said, the compensation would be adjusted based on an assessment of "real damages."

Kuo said that the Cabinet would be in charge of allocating the funds.

Kuo's comments were in response to Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu Li-lun's (朱立倫)criticism that the Cabinet failed to come up with a compensation plan before announcing the fallow project.

Chu said at the meeting that water for irrigation use in northern Taiwan had been reduced from 1.3 million tonnes to zero, but that affected farmers still didn't know how much compensation they would receive.

Central Weather Bureau officials said yesterday that a front would approach Taiwan on or about May 15, bringing heavy rains. Forecasters believe the rains are likely to last about two days.

"People should not neglect disaster prevention, as torrential rains might occur on short notice," said Daniel Wu (吳德榮), deputy director of the bureau's forecast center.