Government-imposed water rationing over the weekend should have little effect on industrial manufacturers, business leaders say.
"The impact is minimal because most companies can store as much as 1,000 tonnes of tap water in tanks for later use," said Chen Chung-tso (
The park is located in Taoyuan County and is home to roughly 50 textile factories.
Chen said government officials have given plenty of warning about the water-rationing measures, providing enough time for companies based in the park to act.
There have been few complaints about the shut-off scheduled for today and tomorrow, he said.
The Cabinet's drought disaster-relief center on Thursday decided to go ahead with a 36-hour suspension of services that was to begin at midnight yesterday and run through noon tomorrow. Taoyuan County and parts of Taipei County will be affected.
Taoyuan County's seven industrial parks are home to 1,421 companies. Roughly a fifth of those are in the electronic appliance sector.
Still, while there appears to be enough water for the short term, several Taoyuan-based manufacturers are concerned about potential losses should drought conditions grow worse.
Tseng Bao-hsiang (曾寶祥), a manager at printed circuit board maker Printed Wire Corp (台灣電路), said worries are few today because its the slow season for electronics orders.
But Printed Wire and its counterparts, some of whom require as much as 8,000 tonnes of water daily, may be forced to halt operations if the water shortage continues.
"There are no other alternatives to outsource water," said Tseng, who also heads the business association at Taoyuan's Pingchen Industrial Park (
Companies that support the textile industry are also worried about the availability of water.
Ho Hsin-yi (何幸一), who runs a dyeing business with roughly NT$1 million in daily revenue in Taoyuan's Kuanyin Industrial Park (觀音工業區), said delayed goods could lead to losses for his firm.
Ho, who also heads the Kuanyin park's business association, noted that chemical manufacturers located there require as much as over 3,000 tonnes of water per day.
But finding other sources of water in case of a shut-off would prove cost prohibitive, he said. "We can do nothing but depend on heaven's mercy" and pray for more rain, Ho said.
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