A Taipei resident has been charged NT$200,000 by the Taipei Water Department for using water leaking from a fire hydrant. City Councilor Chen Hsiu-hui (
The man, identified only by his family name Huang, said that on Jan 14, while driving his motorcycle past a hydrant, he noticed it was leaking and then used the water from it to fill a bucket to wash his motorcycle.
A plainclothes policeman spotted him and took a photograph of him washing his motorcycle before accusing him of stealing the water.
Huang said he had no idea that what he had done was illegal.
Huo Yu-jan (霍柚然), from Neihu district's Wente police station, confirmed Huang's account of events. "He was washing his motorcycle, and we have pictures as evidence. We questioned his behavior in taking water from the leaking fire hydrant. Under the law, water is considered a fluid with a financial value just like gas," Huo said.
An official from the Taipei Water Department, Chen Pai-ken (陳培根), agreed with Huo.
"Fire hydrants and the water from them belong to the government. According to water regulations, taking water from fire hydrants without the water department's permission is considered stealing and may be punished by a prison sentence or a fine," he said.
The water department calculated the water fee on the basis of the width of the fire hydrant's pipe, the water pressure, and the usage time. Huang's usage was deemed as "household use" by the water department which, based upon the average eight hours per day most households use water, has charged him for eight hours usage per day for three months, charged at a rate of NT$7.5 per 1,000 liters. The use of three months in the calculation is for punitive effect.
An attorney questioned for this story said that even though the fire hydrant belonged to the government, whether the leaking water also belonged to the government was a matter for debate.
"To defend himself, he can question the ownership of the water he used," said the attorney, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
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