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
In the event of a war with China, Taiwan has some surprisingly tough defenses that could make it as difficult to tackle as a porcupine: A shoreline dotted with swamps, rocks and concrete barriers; conscription for all adult men; highways and airports that are built to double as hardened combat facilities. This porcupine has a soft underbelly, though, and the war in Iran is exposing it: energy. About 39,000 ships dock at Taiwan’s ports each year, more than the 30,000 that transit the Strait of Hormuz. About one-fifth of their inbound tonnage is coal, oil, refined fuels and liquefied natural gas (LNG),
To counter the CCP’s escalating threats, Taiwan must build a national consensus and demonstrate the capability and the will to fight. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) often leans on a seductive mantra to soften its threats, such as “Chinese do not kill Chinese.” The slogan is designed to frame territorial conquest (annexation) as a domestic family matter. A look at the historical ledger reveals a different truth. For the CCP, being labeled “family” has never been a guarantee of safety; it has been the primary prerequisite for state-sanctioned slaughter. From the forced starvation of 150,000 civilians at the Siege of Changchun
The two major opposition parties, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), jointly announced on Tuesday last week that former TPP lawmaker Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) would be their joint candidate for Chiayi mayor, following polling conducted earlier this month. It is the first case of blue-white (KMT-TPP) cooperation in selecting a joint candidate under an agreement signed by their chairpersons last month. KMT and TPP supporters have blamed their 2024 presidential election loss on failing to decide on a joint candidate, which ended in a dramatic breakdown with participants pointing fingers, calling polls unfair, sobbing and walking
In the opening remarks of her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) framed her visit as a historic occasion. In his own remarks, Xi had also emphasized the history of the relationship between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Where they differed was that Cheng’s account, while flawed by its omissions, at least partially corresponded to reality. The meeting was certainly historic, albeit not in the way that Cheng and Xi were signaling, and not from the perspective
RSS