Taipei City officials yesterday stated that the city has saved approximately 10,000 olympic-size swimming pools of water since its water rationing implementation earlier this March.
"About 13 million tonnes of water have been saved from the city's first stage of water rationing -- put in effect on March 5," said Tsay Huei-sheng (蔡輝昇), director of the Taipei Water Department. "And between May 1 to May 4, when the second water-rationing stage was implemented, about 1.8 million tonnes of water was saved.
"In other words, if we were to calculate in terms of measurements of the standard [olympic-size] pool, which is 50m by 20m by 1.5m, approximately 10,000 pools of water have been saved since early this March," he said.
"Of the total amount we have saved over this period, about 92 percent has been used to supplement nearby counties' water resources," Tsay said.
Tsay made the remarks yesterday in response to criticism levelled by Kuo Yao-chi (郭瑤琪), executive-general of the Cabinet's drought-disaster relief center, who criticized the Taipei City government for neglecting to share its resources with counties that need water.
On Saturday, Ko said that the Taipei City government has been slow with its anti-drought measures and has not been gearing up to help meet the water demands of other areas. Kuo said that Taipei City should supply an additional 34,000 tonnes of water to adjacent Taipei County every day.
In response, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"We have been increasing our efforts and doing our part to aid those who need water," Wu Yu-sheng (
Tsay, who was also present at the press conference, added that, during these past four months, the city has supplied approximately 30 million tonnes of water to nearby counties.
Tsay added that, if it wasn't for the city's aid to nearby counties, Shihmen Dam (
The "dead storage" level refers to the level in a reservoir below which the water must be pumped out.
"On normal days, we provide approximately 110,000 tonnes of water per day to these counties," Tsay said. "However, since March, we have been aiding them with an average of 335,000 tonnes of water per day."
"On May 4," he added, "such aid even reached as much as 380,000 tonnes."
Citing these statistics to counter Ko's remark, Tsay said that Ko has indeed misunderstood Taipei City.
After hearing the city's response yesterday, Ko explained that her remarks were made in a spirit of goodwill.
"What I said [on Saturday] was simply meant to serve as a reminder to Taipei City to continue to help out its neighbors," said Ko, adding that her remarks had been misunderstood.
In related news, Mayor Ma Ying-jeou appealed to the heavens for rain at the city's Sungshang Tzuyu Temple (
"[Yesterday was] the birthday of Matsu, the seafarers' goddess," Shen Tsung-chen (
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