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Taoyuan water service to resume today

Residents of southern Taoyuan County whose tap water services remained suspended collect buckets of water from a local fire truck yesterday. Normal piped water supplies were resumed on a rotation basis yesterday in Taoyuan County. PHOTO: CNA

Beginning 7:00am today, normal water services will be available to residents of Taoyuan, Minister of Economic Affairs Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥) said yesterday.

Ho reported to Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday morning that about 90 percent of residents in Taoyuan have been affected by water rationing measures. As of yesterday, about 13,000 households remained without a single drop of tap water in their homes.

Ho yesterday also inspected construction at several sites near the Shihmen Main Canal, which will transfer untreated water diverted from the reservoir at Shihmen Dam to the Pingjen Water Treatment Plant.

"What we can guarantee is that all construction will be completed by midnight and normal water supplies will be available tomorrow," Ho said yesterday.

Engineers have faced a challenge in constructing temporary pumping stations to move untreated surface water at the reservoir to the Shihmen Main Canal. Sending the water through the 59m-long pipe will create about 600 tonnes of water pressure, requiring some testing for safety and leakages.

"It will take one or two hours to test the newly-built system. We estimate that it should be workable," Water Resources Agency Director-General Chen Shen-hsien (陳伸賢) said yesterday.

Meanwhile, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) inspected the reservoir yesterday. Asked by local county councilors from opposition parties about having her hair washed and dyed on Sunday in Chungli, one of the areas affected by the unexpected water suspension, Lu said the criticism of her private activities was irrelevant.

"The hair stylist is one of my good friends. I went there because she said that groundwater was available. Media's reports have gone too far," Lu said.

The suspension of water services sparked political tension between Lu, of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, and Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu Li-lun (朱立倫), who is from the opposition camp.

Chu said previously that he would make no further comments on political issues because his priority was to return normal water services to affected residents.

"We hope all water pipes will be strengthened because any leakage or accedental explosion would cause residents to suffer longer," Chu said yesterday.

Meanwhile, officials operating the reservoir at Shihmen Dam said yesterday they had designated certain sites upstream to remove substantial amounts of silt, soil, mud, driftwood and other debris washed down by heavy rain when Typhoon Aere passed late last month.

Officials estimates that about 270 hectares of mountainous areas had collapsed.

Poor water and land preservation in upstream areas, the location of several Hsinchu County villages that have been declared disaster areas, has been cited as the main cause of silt deposits at the reservoir.

Officials said that expected heavy rain in the following days might bring more silt down, further damaging the reservoir. Solving the silt problem will be the first step to thoroughly solve future water crises in the Taoyuan area, officials said.

The Central Weather Bureau said yesterday that it expects abundant rainfall today and tomorrow.
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