Due to the lack of running water in the Longzaipu (籠仔埔) area of Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township (恆春), 72-year-old Wang Fu-shun (王福順) has been drawing water from a muddy pond for himself and his wife for two years.
On Monday, the day before Father’s Day, Kenting National Park officials presented Wang with a gift: a permit to use water from one of the park’s bathrooms for free.
Local politicians and Wang’s daughter had petitioned for the couple to be granted free use of the facility’s water, Kenting National Park Administration Office Director Liu Pei-tung (劉培東) said.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
Located at the waist of a hill inside Sheding Nature Park, the Longzaipu community is sparsely populated and has historically been dependent on the area’s groundwater, which gradually dried up over the past decade.
Over the past few years, residents, including Wang, relied on a mixture of groundwater and water from the pond, but local wells completely dried out last year.
Wang said his own well dried up two years ago, and that no matter how deep he dug, he could not find more water.
He said that he asked for his house to be connected to running water, but received a quote for millions of New Taiwan dollars, which he could not afford.
Having no other recourse, Wang said that he began to draw water from a nearby pond used by water buffaloes.
He tried to keep the situation a secret, out of embarrassment, he added.
Wang said he would place the water in barrels to let the muck settle on the bottom, then take the clear water at the top to boil for potable water.
Although there is a public bathroom 200m from his house, Wang said he used to work for the park and knows it is illegal to draw water for household use.
“It is public property; taking it would be stealing,” Wang said. “Besides, that bathroom has cameras on the outside. I was not going to risk it.”
His daughter, who lives and works outside of the township, began petitioning the park’s administration on his behalf, Wang said, adding that she secured the support of local leader Tsai Cheng-jung (蔡正榮), Township Councilor Lu Jung-shih (盧榮士) and County Councilor Chang Jung-chih (張榮志).
Longzaipu used to have three larger households, but unfavorable conditions have driven almost everyone out, Tsai said.
To his knowledge, Wang and his wife are the only residents left in the area, Tsai said, adding that his younger brother sometimes returns for short periods.
Liu said he was informed of the petition prior to Father’s Day and thought it would be good for the park to help out a local resident.
As the bathroom’s water main was paid for with government funds, an additional water pipe cannot be extended to Wang’s house for legal reasons, Liu said.
However, the park has requested an estimate to build a water pipe to Wang’s house, and if the difficulty of directly supplying the property is confirmed, the park would have legal justification to subsidize the cost of extending a pipe from the bathroom’s water main, he said.
Until that determination is made, Wang and his wife are free to use the facility’s water, he added.
Wang said his daughter has asked him to move, but he is accustomed to life in Longzaipu, adding that he is thankful for the park’s help.
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