Rain fails to halt weekend shutoff

With no end in sight to the drought, the Cabinet's drought disaster relief center will go ahead with its water rationing scheme this weekend in the areas of Taipei and Taoyuan counties that receive water from the Shihmen Reservoir, the center's executive-general Kuo Yao-chi (郭瑤琪) said yesterday.

All of Taoyuan County and 10 townships of Taipei County will have their water cut off from midnight tonight until noon on Sunday.

The 10 townships are: Panchiao (板橋), Tucheng (土城), Sinjhuang (新莊), Sanshia (三峽), Yingko (鶯歌), Shulin (樹林), Linkuo (林口), Taishan (泰山), Luchou (蘆洲) and Wuku (五股).

Although the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) had predicted that the weather front that passed over Taiwan on Wednesday afternoon would bring a lot of rain, the areas around major reservoirs in northern and southern Taiwan received only a fraction of the amount needed to relieve the shortages.

The catchment area of the Shihmen Reservoir in Taoyuan County received 28mm of rainfall from midnight Wednesday to early Thurs-day morning. The water level of the dam now stands at 198.38m, 4m away from its "dead storage" level, below which water must be pumped out of the reservoir.

The Water Resources Agency (WRA, 水利署) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs said the Shihmen Reservoir -- a main water source for northern Taiwan -- continued to supply 1.3 million tonnes of water daily, but the water intake is just 600,000 tonnes. At least 300mm of rainfall would be needed to end the shortages, the bureau said.

The Feitsui Reservoir (翡翠水庫) in Taipei County, Taipei City's main source of water, only accumulated 10mm of rainfall by 8am yesterday. The reservoir's water level fell to 127.03m.

According to CWB statistics, Szushihfen (四十份) in Sindian (新店), Taipei County, has received the most rainfall over the past few days, with 75mm up until 9am yesterday. Pingshi (平溪) received 48mm and Feitsui (翡翠) 41mm.

The government urged people living in southern Taiwan to be prepared for water shortages.

The deputy director of the South Water Resources Bureau (南區水資源局) of the WRA, Peng Ho-ying (彭合營), warned that, except for Tsengwen (曾文), Wushantou (烏山頭) and Mutan (牡丹) reservoirs, dams in southern Taiwan might soon have difficulties supplying water to consumers. The public should comply with government regulations to save water, Peng said.

The water in the three major dams should be able to meet household demand until the end of June. But, Peng added, some irrigation water might have to be diverted for household use.

In Tainan County, the Nanhua Reservoir (南化水庫) is running out of water. The reservoir is expected to dry out by the end of June if the drought continues.