Taipei City officials, after the approximately 100mm of rain that fell over the past few days, have decided to give city residents a bit of a reprieve on water rationing.
Starting Monday, rationing will be relaxed from the current once-every-five-days district by district cutoff to a once-every-seven-days district by district cutoff.
Saturdays and Sundays will see no cutoffs.
Deputy Taipei Mayor Ou Chin-der (
In addition, the city will suspend water rationing today and tomorrow for the Dragon Boat Festival, Ou said.
"Since the Shihmen Dam [
"By doing so, it will allow us to implement the once-a-week measure for Taipei residents," he said.
Since early May, the Feitsui Reservoir has been supplying the Shihmen Dam with an average of 350,000 tonness in emergency supplies per day, according to Ou.
"Under the new once-a-week plan, the first district will have its water cut on Monday, the second district will have its turn on Tuesday and so forth and so on with the other three districts," Ou said.
Ou added that a relaxation in rationing for pools and car wash establishments would likely be announced late next week when the task force reaches a consensus with other relevant officials in Taipei and Taoyuan Counties, where water supplies are aided by those of Taipei City.
Ou said that more rainfall is expected over the next few days, citing the Central Weather Bureau's forecast.
"I would say that we have endured the hardest part [of the drought]," he added.
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