In response to the serious drought in the country, some academics have once again proposed that more reservoirs be built. The Water Resources Agency is already busy doing this across the country.
The controversial Hushan Reservoir (湖山水庫) in Yunlin County is under construction. Although its budget has been repeatedly blocked by the legislature, the Jiyang Lake (吉洋人工湖) project between Greater Kaohsiung and Pingtung County is about to begin. The agency is also planning to build the Bilin Reservoir (比麟水庫) in Hsinchu County and Pingsi Reservoir (平溪水庫) in Keelung, as well as re-evaluate the Meinong Reservoir (美濃水庫) project, which has been suspended.
Since it takes 10 to 20 years and billions of NT dollars to plan and build a new reservoir, is this really the most effective solution to an extreme climate?
First, take Greater Kaohsiung for example: If the water leakage rate could be reduced by 10 percent, water supply could be increased by more than 150,000 tonnes a day.
Second, in the Greater Kaohsiung Cijin District (旗津區), the Jhongjhou Wastewater Treatment Plant drains 800,000 to 900,000 tonnes of domestic sewage into the sea every day. If it could be upgraded to a third-level wastewater treatment plant, it could provide 300,000 tonnes of water for industrial use every day.
Third, Donggang Creek (東港溪) on the west side of North Dawu Mountain (北大武山) is a great water resource. The Greater Kaohsiung branch of Taiwan Water Corp takes 300,000 tonnes of water from the creek daily for industrial use in the city.
However, the creek has the potential for a daily supply of 480,000 tonnes during dry season and 980,000 tonnes during wet season. If the municipality could improve its livestock and sewage management and water quality to the level required for domestic use, it could utilize the Gangsi Pumping Station to deliver water to Greater Kaohsiung’s Fongshan Reservoir (鳳山水庫).
This would increase the water supply in Greater Kaohsiung by 180,000 to 680,000 tonnes a day. At the same time, it would help revive the natural ecology along the creek and residents on both sides would enjoy a clean environment for recreational water activities. This is a win-win situation that would benefit both urban and rural areas.
Through the three plans proposed above — water leakage reduction, reusing domestic sewage for industrial use and improving the quality of water in Donggang Creek — the daily water supply in Greater Kaohsiung and Pingtung County could increase by 600,000 to 1 million tonnes.
In recent years, the Taipei Water Department has spent NT$5.5 billion (US$190 million) to reduce the water leakage rate by 4.17 percent, saving 230 million tonnes of water in total or 158,000 tonnes a day. This proves that leakage reduction is a better option than building reservoirs or manmade lakes.
In comparison, the first-stage construction project of the Jiyang Lake project will cost NT$16.1 billion, but it will only supply 140,000 tonnes of water a day after completion. This is one of the stupidest projects in history.
Indeed, the issue of water resources should be elevated to the national security level. However, more importantly, policymakers must change their thinking and switch the direction of the nation’s investments.
If the government still thinks it should build more reservoirs to deal with water shortages, it will only benefit those who stand to profit from reservoir development, while delaying the nation’s opportunity for prompt responses to an extreme climate.
Lee Ken-cheng is director of Mercy on the Earth, Taiwan.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
In a stark reminder of China’s persistent territorial overreach, Pema Wangjom Thongdok, a woman from Arunachal Pradesh holding an Indian passport, was detained for 18 hours at Shanghai Pudong Airport on Nov. 24 last year. Chinese immigration officials allegedly informed her that her passport was “invalid” because she was “Chinese,” refusing to recognize her Indian citizenship and claiming Arunachal Pradesh as part of South Tibet. Officials had insisted that Thongdok, an Indian-origin UK resident traveling for a conference, was not Indian despite her valid documents. India lodged a strong diplomatic protest, summoning the Chinese charge d’affaires in Delhi and demanding
In the past 72 hours, US Senators Roger Wicker, Dan Sullivan and Ruben Gallego took to social media to publicly rebuke the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) over the defense budget. I understand that Taiwan’s head is on the chopping block, and the urgency of its security situation cannot be overstated. However, the comments from Wicker, Sullivan and Gallego suggest they have fallen victim to a sophisticated disinformation campaign orchestrated by an administration in Taipei that treats national security as a partisan weapon. The narrative fed to our allies claims the opposition is slashing the defense budget to kowtow to the Chinese
Immediately after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) “Justice Mission” exercise at the end of last year, a question was posed to Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal regarding recent developments involving the exercises around Taiwan, and how he viewed their impact on regional peace and stability. His answer was somewhat perplexing to me as a curious student of Taiwanese affairs. “India closely follows developments across the Indo-Pacific region,” he said, adding: “We have an abiding interest in peace and stability in the region, in view of our significant trade, economic, people-to-people, and maritime interests. We urge all concerned
In a Taipei Times editorial published almost three years ago (“Macron goes off-piste,” April 13, 2023, page 8), French President Emmanuel Macron was criticized for comments he made immediately after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing. Macron had spoken of the need for his country to find a path on Chinese foreign policy no longer aligned with that of the US, saying that continuing to follow the US agenda would sacrifice the EU’s strategic autonomy. At the time, Macron was criticized for gifting Xi a PR coup, and the editorial said that he had been “persuaded to run
RSS