The Water Resources Agency is planning to authorize a shipment of 2,000 tonnes of fresh water from central Taiwan to Kinmen before the end of the month to help ease water shortages on the island.
The Kinmen County Water Co submitted an appeal to the agency earlier this month, asking for fresh water to be shipped over to help alleviate shortages resulting from a drought affecting the area since the start of the year.
A number of company officials and technicians are scheduled to visit Taichung Harbor on Monday for talks on the proposed shipment, in which 2,000 tonnes of fresh water are expected to be carried by a Kinmen-based freighter from Tai-chung before May 31, company president Weng Tzi-pao (翁自保) said.
The initial shipment will serve as a trial and will not signify the start of regular Taichung-Kinmen water shipments unless reservoirs around Kinmen drop to a level that would only meet demand for 55 days, Weng said.
Total water reserves in Kinmen, including supply from artesian wells, are enough to meet demand for 107 days if the drought continues, Weng added.
The situation is even worse on the islet of Little Kinmen, however, where water reserves are down to 11 days, Weng said.
To compensate for drought, Kinmen residents have conserved rainwater by building a number of reservoirs and 23 deep wells.
In June 2002, a naval vessel carried nearly 600 tonnes of fresh water from the southern naval base of Tsoying to Kinmen to help ease a water shortage.
The navy said it had completed preparations for transporting the water and that its ships could carry 600 tonnes each.
While expressing his appreciation for the navy's efforts, Kinmen County Commissioner Lee Chu-feng (李柱烽) said that the shipment did not amount to even one-twentieth of Kinmen's daily demand for water, did not address the core problem and was not cost-efficient.
He estimated that one trip would cost NT$4.2 million. He doubted that Kinmen could afford the expense and pointed out that a better solution would be to transport water from China.
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