Water restrictions for Taipei residents could be tightened as early as Saturday, with supplies cut off for a 24-hour period once every three days, Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) warned yesterday.
Taipei began its latest water-rationing measure yesterday, in which water is cut off once every five days to parts of the city in rotation.
But if it doesn't rain soon, the frequency could increase to once every three days, Ma said.
"This is a measure that we're pondering at the moment," Ma said. "But the exact timetable has yet to be decided and will depend on the effectiveness of current measures as well as the amount of rainfall we get in the coming days."
Ma made the remarks yesterday during his report to the city council on Taipei's anti-drought measures and long-term planning for water resources management.
The mayor noted that water levels at the Feitsui Reservoir (翡翠水庫), the city's main source of water, continue to drop.
After a long period of dry skies, Taipei finally got some rain on Saturday. But the 1.02mm of rainfall was just a drop in the ocean and not nearly enough to alleviate the shortage.
And despite forecasts for rain today from the Central Weather Bureau, Ma remained pessimistic, saying drought conditions weren't likely to improve anytime soon.
"Not unless the amount of rainfall is like 200mm to 300mm," Ma said.
"Otherwise, current water-rationing measures will continue, as rainfall of 40mm to 50mm isn't going to help much."
According to Hsu Pei-chung (許培中), deputy director at the Taipei Water Department, the water level at the Feitsui Reservoir continued to set new record lows yesterday. Last night, the level was 128.2m, "just about 11m away from reaching dead storage level," Hsu said.
"Dead storage" level refers to the level in a reservoir below which water must be pumped out.
"We need to take precautions before it's too late," Hsu said. "We can't totally depend on weather forecasts. We need to do all we can to prolong the water supply at the Feitsui Reservoir."
Hsu said that the once-in-every-three-day measure would be implemented only after the once-in-every-five-day measure completes its first round.
That could be Saturday, when the city's water District 1 is due for its next cut off.
District 1, central and eastern Taipei, had its first cut-off yesterday. There are five districts all together.
There was some panic buying yesterday as a result of the shut-off. Buckets and water cisterns to store water were in great demand.
Some businesses such as department stores, hotels and large restaurants employed water-trucks to transport water purchased from the Taipei Water Department.
The water costs almost five times normal water rates.
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