A limit will be placed on water supplies for heavy water users in northern Taiwan beginning Feb. 6, as recent rains failed to lift water levels at major reservoirs, the Water Resources Agency (WRA) announced yesterday.
At a meeting held by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) to address the impending water shortage in the north, officials decided to reduce water supplies for heavy users to 80 percent in Taipei City and Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu counties. Heavy water users include those who run saunas and car-washing services.
Meanwhile, water supplies to the industrial sector will be reduced to 95 percent.
"The water limit will be effective on the day after the Lantern Festival. And by the end of May, no stricter water conservation measures should be announced in the north," said Chen Shen-hsien (
Chen said that these measures would not affect residents' daily lives or industrial development and estimated that regular water consumption would be 3 percent to 5 percent lower.
Chen said that most firms in the Hsinchu Science Park would not be affected by the new measures because they had already been taking water conservation measures for weeks.
According to the MOEA, agricultural land nationwide to be left fallow from Feb. 1 would amount to 65,000 hectares -- the largest amount left fallow in the nation's history.
Yesterday, at least 20mm of rainfall was measured in Hsinchu, where residents are experiencing the worst drought in the last 10 years. According to the Central Weather Bureau, cold fronts arriving in the following week might bring abundant rainfall to Taiwan.
Water resources officials, however, urged residents to use water wisely because recent rains in the north failed to lift water levels at major reservoirs.
As of yesterday, the water level at Feitsui Reservoir in Taipei County was 154m, while that at Shihmen Dam in Taoyuan was 214m -- both lower than needed for normal water distribution.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
RSS