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Chen asks entire nation to start conserving water

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday urged the public to conserve water as northern Taiwan faces a drought.

He made the appeal while inspecting the Feitsui Reservoir, accompanied by Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (林義夫).

Addressing to the officials from the ministry and the Taipei Water Department, Chen said "as we face a possible future water restrictions, we should prepare ourselves and be prepared to tackle the worst possible situation."

According to Kang Shih-fang (康世芳), director of the Feitsui Reservoir, rainfall at the site registered a its low for any February on record. He said the water level of the reservoir stood at 145.41m as of 7pm yesterday and is dropping at a rate of 25cm to 30cm per day.

If no significant rainfall is received in the coming weeks, Kang said, the water level will drop to the critical level of 137m early next month, whereupon the Taipei Water Department will enforce a second-phase water restriction.

During his inspection of the reservoir, Chen expressed the hope that local governments will cooperate with the central government to counter the draught, hinting at problems that were encountered during last year's drought. He also asked government agencies to take appropriate steps as early as possible to keep the negative impact of a possible water shortage to a minimum.

Ma yesterday suggested the central government research what would be the best long-term drought-fighting scheme, which he said should include rationing the daily amount of water use per person, plugging leaks in older water pipes and increasing the price of water to reflect its scarcity.

Ma called on the central government to subsidize extra budgets to replace the old leaking water pipes in the city in a bid to keep the pipe replacement rate to 1.5 percent, which he predicted could lower the leakage rate from the current 30 percent to 7 percent. Taipei City and nearby counties currently have budget to replace water pipes to save about 0.7 percent, he said.

In response, the president affirmed Ma's efforts and asked government agencies to study the mayor's proposals.

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