Rammasun brings relief

The worst drought in the past two decades in Taiwan ended yesterday after heavy rains brought by Typhoon Rammasun provided a much-needed supply of water to the nation.

"All existing water restrictions except for those in Taipei City will be lifted tomorrow," Kuo Yao-chi (郭瑤琪), executive-general of the Cabinet's drought disaster-relief center, said yesterday afternoon when she inspected Shihmen Dam in Taoyuan County.

Whether water restrictions imposed in Taipei City will be lifted would be left to the city government, Kuo said.

Torrential rains beginning on Wednesday in northern Taiwan stopped yesterday afternoon, when Typhoon Rammasun headed for the East China Sea.

Weather forecasters at the Central Weather Bureau yesterday lifted a heavy-rain warning for residents in northern Taiwan.

Officials said that southern Taiwan may see torrential rains within a few days.

Officials at the Water Resources Agency said yesterday that the amount of water collected by the two major reservoirs in northern Taiwan made it possible to lift water restrictions there.

The typhoon brought 443mm of rain to the Shihmen Dam over the past two days, officials said.

"The rains enabled us to lift water restrictions for household use and will provide farmers with enough water for the summer's irrigation," Chen Shen-hsien (陳伸賢), deputy director of the agency, said yesterday. Usually, summer irrigation begins on July 20.

Chen said that the water surface level at the Shihmen Dam was increasing because water preserved in mountain areas will keep flowing into it.

By 6pm yesterday, the water surface at Shihmen Dam reached 233.42m, which exceeded the goal set by the Cabinet's drought disaster-relief center of lifting the water level to 230m.

Chen said that the Cabinet's disaster-relief center will officially remove the existing 36-hour weekend water cutoffs for Taoyuan County and 10 townships in Taipei County at its meeting today.

At Feitsui Reservoir (翡翠水庫), Taipei County, the water level increased to 130.81m by 7pm yesterday, thanks to 260mm of rain brought by the typhoon over the past two days. Taipei City officials said that the water level at the reservoir would supply residents until the end of August.

Deputy Taipei Mayor Ou Chin-der (歐晉德) said yesterday that water restrictions would be lifted if the water level approaches 135m.

Ou said that more than 70 schools will need 100,000 tonnes of water to refill all of their swimming pools because water treatment plants have channeled river water from Nanshih River (南勢溪) to supply residents.

Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said the city's water restrictions would be carefully evaluated by city officials.

"Even after the heavy rains, we still hope that residents will continue to try to save water," Ma said.

City officials have decided to lift water restrictions for a week.

Ma said that restrictions will be lifted if the city could be exempted from offering 380,000 tonnes of water to parts of Taipei County.

Responding to Ma, Kuo said the issue would be discussed at today's meeting.