Water Resources Agency reflects on recent drought

Taipei Times: What will the WRA do now that the drought is over?

Chen Shen-hsien (陳伸賢): First of all, we will compensate within two weeks farmers who have been affected by water restrictions that were imposed in March.

As for those in Taoyuan County who were affected by the water restrictions imposed on May 3, as much as NT$90,000 for each hectare of agricultural land will be made available.

Compensation will be based on rice-inventory records being provided by the Council of Agriculture (COA). Meanwhile, NT$75 million will be given to the Taoyuan Irrigation Association for its work during the water crisis.

TT: Are there any remaining water crises?

Chen: Water supplies to remote islands remain worrisome.

In Kinmen, water supplies will only last until the end of August. However, we already have plans to deal with any crisis there. If rains don't come by early August, we will transfer water from Keelung to Kinmen.

As for Penghu, we will inspect the three desalination plants there in the near future to determine whether they are operating at capacity. If necessary, water will be transferred from Kaohsiung.

TT: During the months of drought we've just experienced, the transportation of water supplies from areas with a surplus to areas experiencing scarcity has been discussed. Will the WRA focus on that in the future?

Chen: Based on a cost-benefit analysis of the idea, I don't think it's necessary to construct water-transfer infrastructure everywhere.

For example, in Nantou County, where people rely more on ground-water, it's unnecessary to build such infrastructure.

However, the NT$240 million construction of pumping stations, which are required for transferring water from Taoyuan County (home to the Shihmen Dam, (石門水庫)) to Hsinchu County (home to Taiwan's high-tech industry), is necessary.

The WRA has identified certain areas where regional water-transfer management is necessary in order to build the appropriate infrastructure.

TT: Is this kind of construction suitable for the Shihmen Dam in Taoyuan County and the Feitsui Reservoir (翡翠水庫) in Taipei County?

Chen: No. Problems relating to the two reservoirs are more about water-distribution systems. If the two can share more common areas to supply, say, part of Taipei County, flexible water distribution would be helpful, especially during a drought.

TT: How will the agency solve the problem of water-loss, for which it has been criticized by legislators since the drought began early this year?

Chen: We've been thinking about fixing the problem of water-loss. Due to the low water price, however, the Taiwan Water Supply Corporation has difficulties in allocating a huge amount of money to decrease high water-loss rates -- Taipei City's [rate of loss is] 25 percent and in other areas it's 20 percent.

This year the company will spend about NT$1.5 billion replacing old aqueducts around the country. To be honest, if the water-loss rate was lower than 10 percent, I don't think it would be necessary to fix old aqueducts.

TT: When fighting the drought, did you feel that the decision-making process was hampered by politics?

Chen: Some hot topics relating to water-resource management are actually not as important as what political figures had claimed. No single idea is a cure-all. For example, they wanted to build as many desalination plants as possible. But this kind of costly plant can offer only a small amount of water.