Water conservationists yesterday urged the government to transform the nation’s 17 irrigation associations into a collective government agency to bring agricultural water management under government purview, but the proposal met with opposition from association members.
Irrigation associations have water rights over 70 percent of the nation’s farm water resources, but they can sell water and lease properties at their own discretion without being subject to government supervision, Taiwan Water Resources Protection Union spokesperson Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said at a legislative hearing.
“An irrigation association in Yunlin can make as much as NT$300 million [US$9.31 million] per year by selling water to Formosa Plastics Group’s naphtha cracker in the county. While water resources should be considered a public asset for common use, irrigation associations can make a profit selling water without being answerable to anyone,” Chen said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Diverting farm water for factories has caused farmers to drain groundwater, leading to ground subsidence, farmer Lin Fu-yuan (林富源) said.
Conservationists called on the government to restructure irrigation associations into a government agency to curb the use of agricultural water resources for industrial purposes.
Water Watch Taiwan member Liang Yin-min (梁蔭民) said a 1,500 ping (4,958.7m2) property in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) that Pacific Sogo Department Store’s -Zhongxiao branch stands on belongs to the Liugong Irrigation Association.
“The retailer is permitted to use the property for free until 2030, after which the association can make a good profit with the property, which has an estimated value of more than NT$20 billion. However, profit generated by properties of irrigation associations should be shared by the public,” Liang said.
Water rights and properties owned by irrigation associations are public assets and therefore government management should be imposed, Liang said.
The nation’s 17 irrigation associations own 24,500 hectares of land and irrigate 373,096 hectares of farm land, with a yearly revenue of NT$12.6 billion, according to Council of Agriculture data.
Properties of irrigation associations were owned by farmers before the Japanese colonial period, but were expropriated by the Japanese colonial government for irrigation purposes. Later, the Republic of China government turned the Japanese-founded organizations into today’s irrigation associations.
Taoyuan Irrigation Association consultant Chen Zau-nan (陳昭南) said properties owned by irrigation associations are private assets belonging to association members, and transforming the associations into a government agency would amount to seizing private property.
“What does pollution created by the naphtha cracker have anything to do with irrigation associations?” Chen asked. “Ground subsidence in Yunlin is all about local fish farming. The public should not blame those problems on irrigation associations and we do not want the associations to be stigmatized.”
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