Flow from the main source of water in the Kaohsiung area, the Gaoping River Weir (高屏攔河堰), has dropped to close to 6.2m3 per second — its lowest in 21 years.
The alert level in the Kaohsiung and Tainan areas has been raised from green to yellow, and these are also the only two areas that implemented first-level water rationing on Thursday last week by lowering water pressure during off-peak hours.
Many people ignore that Taiwan has a water shortage. There is a huge difference between low and high water flows in southern Taiwan, and periods of drought are common.
Still, to promote economic development and full employment, the region continues to endeavor to attract businesses and investment.
It was only in the past two years that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Winbond Electronics Corp set up operations there, but social conditions have restricted the development of the necessary water resources, which has made full cooperation difficult.
According to a 2016 assessment by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, seven counties and cities would experience water shortages by 2031 to the tune of 640,000 tonnes per day.
The shortages would be most severe in Tainan and Kaohsiung at approximately 230,000 tonnes each daily.
Although various short and long-term programs might reduce that gap to 180,000 tonnes, leaving only Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung with water shortages, the severity of the water situation in southern Taiwan is obvious.
More distant water resource development plans in the south have ended with the demise of the Meinong (美濃) and Majia (瑪家) reservoir projects, and later the Zengwen Yueyin (曾文越引) and Gaoping Great Lakes (高屏大湖) projects.
Kaohsiung has survived the past few years because the intake pipeline from the Nanhua Reservoir (南化水庫) has diverted water to the Gaoping River Weir.
The latest plans involve the development of underflow water and the Zengwen-Nanhua intake pipeline. The volume provided by the former is restricted, and can only be used as backup during a drought. The latter involves diverting water and is not a catchment that would store water during rainfall for use during dry spells.
In the event of a major drought, Tainan and Kaohsiung would be in a difficult situation.
In the current drought, Kaohsiung’s only choice is to open up five wastewater treatment plants to provide recycled water, but this only amounts to 39,000 tonnes per day. This water is not for human consumption — it cannot even be used to wash hands — so it will not be helpful during a drought.
Given the difficulty in developing new water storage facilities, water resource projects must focus on developing underflow water and dredging existing reservoirs, preventing them from silting up, and updating and improving them, as well as connecting existing water pipelines to divert water.
Water needs will continue to grow in tandem with social and economic development, climate change and improving living standards.
It is time to give the long-suspended Gaoping Great Lake project new consideration and include it as one of the options for new developments.
A lake-style reservoir has a small environmental impact. With a water shortage in southern Taiwan, it is unfortunate that water in Gaoping River is allowed to pour freely into the sea.
Unless people understand how difficult the water supply situation is and water resource projects are quickly initiated to address it, water shortages would become a recurring nightmare for many years to come.
Chang Yen-ming is a former director of the Water Resources Agency.
Translated by Perry Svensson
Eating at a breakfast shop the other day, I turned to an old man sitting at the table next to mine. “Hey, did you hear that the Legislative Yuan passed a bill to give everyone NT$10,000 [US$340]?” I said, pointing to a newspaper headline. The old man cursed, then said: “Yeah, the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] canceled the NT$100 billion subsidy for Taiwan Power Co and announced they would give everyone NT$10,000 instead. “Nice. Now they are saying that if electricity prices go up, we can just use that cash to pay for it,” he said. “I have no time for drivel like
A failure by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to respond to Israel’s brilliant 12-day (June 12-23) bombing and special operations war against Iran, topped by US President Donald Trump’s ordering the June 21 bombing of Iranian deep underground nuclear weapons fuel processing sites, has been noted by some as demonstrating a profound lack of resolve, even “impotence,” by China. However, this would be a dangerous underestimation of CCP ambitions and its broader and more profound military response to the Trump Administration — a challenge that includes an acceleration of its strategies to assist nuclear proxy states, and developing a wide array
Young supporters of former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) were detained for posting the names and photographs of judges and prosecutors believed to be overseeing the Core Pacific City redevelopment corruption case. The supporters should be held responsible for their actions. As for Ko’s successor, TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), he should reflect on whether his own comments are provocative and whether his statements might be misunderstood. Huang needs to apologize to the public and the judiciary. In the article, “Why does sorry seem to be the hardest word?” the late political commentator Nan Fang Shuo (南方朔) wrote
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) reportedly told the EU’s top diplomat that China does not want Russia to lose in Ukraine, because the US could shift its focus to countering Beijing. Wang made the comment while meeting with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas on July 2 at the 13th China-EU High-Level Strategic Dialogue in Brussels, the South China Morning Post and CNN reported. Although contrary to China’s claim of neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, such a frank remark suggests Beijing might prefer a protracted war to keep the US from focusing on
RSS