The Water Resources Agency last week announced that water pressure would be lowered at night in some parts of Taiwan as of Wednesday as part of a phase-one water rationing measure.
The restrictions would be in place from 11pm to 5am in Taoyuan, Hsinchu city and county, Miaoli County and Taichung due to lower-than-expected water levels in some reservoirs, which is partially due to no typhoons hitting Taiwan this year.
Under the agency’s three-phase rationing system, phase one means reduced water pressure during off-peak hours, phase two calls for supply restrictions for big users who usually consume more than 1,000 cubic meters per month, while phase three involves cutting off supplies to whole areas for two days per week on a rotating basis.
While Taiwan did not have a direct typhoon hit during the annual typhoon season, which runs from July to September, what is unusual is that not a single typhoon has struck from January to last month, breaking a record set in 1964. As a result, the accumulated rainfall in reservoir catchment areas is only 20 percent to 60 percent of last year’s levels, with precipitation in some catchment areas from Taoyuan to Chiayi hitting record lows.
As Taiwan’s hydrology is characterized by rainy and dry seasons, a plentiful supply of water is generally dependent on seasonal rains and reservoirs are necessary water-storage facilities to provide water to end users, such as households, industry and agriculture. If typhoons do not come during the rainy season, or if the plum rain or typhoon seasons do not bring as much rain as expected, droughts are likely.
The agency’s announcement was both expected and unexpected. On the one hand, the agency felt the need to make early preparations before the nation enters the dry season next month; on the other, some people were caught off-guard by the announcement, as it is the first time phase-one rationing has been enacted as early as October.
Furthermore, it also highlights a challenge for the government: maintaining a stable water supply before the arrival of the seasonal rains in May next year. Even though the Central Weather Bureau has said that typhoons or tropical storms could still form in the northwest Pacific in the remaining months of the year, meteorological patterns have shown that on average nine typhoons develop between October and April of the following year, but no typhoons have actually hit Taiwan. Therefore, it is almost impossible to expect an out-of-season typhoon that brings heavy rainfall.
Taiwan has gone without typhoons before: No typhoons hit in 1941 or 1964.
The formation of typhoons is also affected by the El Nino or La Nina effects. Forecasters say that indications are that a La Nina next year in spring would bring little rainfall in spring, which means reservoir water levels would fall further, exacerbating water shortages in some areas and further testing the government’s water resource management.
The government still has ample time to decide whether to restrict water for agricultural use before farmers start planting their spring rice, but to cope with potential shortages, the government should encourage everyone to start conserving water, and set up an early warning system for drought. It is hoped that a drought warning could be issued early enough to give people time to take action, adapt to water rationing and prevent potential drought-related losses.
As the frequency of extreme weather conditions has been increasing in the past few years, a drought warning system is also necessary for water resource management bodies, so that they will be ready as soon as there is a call for them.
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