As Taipei City's water rationing comes into effect today, businesses that usually consume large amounts of water are trying to map out strategies to minimize their losses.
"The day before water is to be cut off, we try to fill up our water tower [on the roof] so we can meet our water usage needs the next day when the taps are turned off," Lin Lung-te (
"We hope that by doing so, it will help sustain our water usage before the water supply resumes in 24 hours."
Lin's remarks reflect the most common approach taken by many of the city's businesses to cope with the city's latest water-rationing measure, which is to cut off the water supply for 24 hours, district by district on a rotating basis starting at 4am today.
"Where water is concerned, we will try to do as much as we can the day before the taps are turned off," Lin added.
"We'll try to wash up the vegetables and other ingredients and clean up the kitchen utensils and equipment."
Ellen Chang, PR manager of the Grand Formosa Regent Hotel, said that the hotel had asked its customers to cooperate to cut its water usage to a minimum.
"Other than lowering water pressure and installing devices in every toilet to reduce the amount of water used in each flush, we have also suggested to guests who are staying more than one day to not change their bed sheets and towels every day," Chang said.
"We also reuse the leftover ice cubes [from dining services] to water our plants after the ice cubes have melted," she added.
Tracy Pai, councilor at the Alexander Health Club, told the Taipei Times that to comply with the latest water-rationing restrictions, the club has no choice but to suspend services that usually require a large amount of water, such as the beauty spa.
"In addition, the club is also suspending shower and bathing services for club members after they are done with their work-outs," Pai said.
A staff member at the Shao Lin Salon branch located on Tunhwa North Road told the Taipei Times that because of the rationing, the salon would not offer its hair-washing services this morning.
"To save what water we have available in the tower, we will only offer services for hair-perms and hair-cuts, which demand less water," she said.
"It [the water cutoff] is inconvenient to both the customers and us, but all we can do at the moment is to cut the impact of the restrictions as much as we can," she added.
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