Thursday night's thunderstorm did not alleviate the drought conditions in the Shihmen Reservoir's catchment area, the Water Resources Agency (WRA) said yesterday.
WRA Deputy Director Wu Yue-hsi (吳約西) said the reservoir's water catchment took in about 20.5mm of rainfall over the last 24 hours, or between 3 million and 3.5 million tonnes of water, which is equivalent to one to two days of supply.
“The rainfall was helpful in easing water shortages in the northern area for one or two days, but was not enough to end the drought,” Wu said.
The water agency took advantage of a cold front to make artificial rain in the catchment area on Thursday evening and early yesterday morning, Wu said.
The “rainmaking” effort will continue over the weekend, taking advantage of new waves of cold fronts that were expected to arrive yesterday and today, he said.
The water level of the Taoyuan County reservoir stood at 229.48m as of 11am yesterday, a level between low and very low, said Chien Chao-chun (簡昭群), deputy director of the Northern Region Water Resources Office.
The reservoir provides water to 13 townships in Taoyuan County as well as some townships in Taipei and Hsinchu counties.
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