For the third week, 36-hour water cutoffs will continue in parts of northern Taiwan this Saturday and Sunday, according to the Cabinet's drought disaster-relief center.
"Water rationing cannot be lifted. Due to the lack of rainwater, levels at the Shihmen Dam remain dangerously low," Kuo Yao-chi (
Water to Taoyuan County and 10 townships in Taipei County will be cut from Friday midnight to noon on Sunday.
All of these areas are supplied by the Shihmen Dam, the largest single source of water in north Taiwan.
Whether the measures will be imposed again next weekend, when borough chief elections will be held, will be decided next Thursday, Kuo said.
Lee Tieh-min (
"The water at the reservoir will then be pumped out of the reservoir until no more water can be retrieved," Lee said.
According to the Water Resource Agency, water stored in the Shihmen Dam yesterday amounted to only 2.4 percent of its "effective capacity," or the total capacity above its "dead storage" level.
The Central Weather Bureau yesterday issued heavy rain warnings to residents in the central, northern and northeastern parts of the country.
Residents living in mountainous areas, officials said, should be on especially high alert for problems related to torrential rains, including road collapses, mudslides and landslides.
Chen Shen-hsien (陳伸賢), deputy director at the Water Resources Agency, said yesterday that water rationing measures in areas supplied by the Shihmen Dam would not be lifted until over 150mm rainfall falls.
Officials hope that figure will be reached by the end of next month.
Meanwhile, plans for unifying the water resources of northern Taiwan to ensure stable supplies in Taoyuan County and parts of Taipei County were also discussed yesterday.
Officials said that supplies in Keelung would be transferred to areas in Taipei County after a pumping system is established "within a few weeks."
Beginning at the end of next month, officials said, about 30,000 tonnes of water will be transferred daily from the Hsinshan Reservoir in Keelung to Hsichih in Taipei County.
Water supplied to Hsichih will then be transferred to Panchiao and Hsintien, areas which were originally supplied by the Shihmen Dam, officials said.
In addition, 50,000 tonnes of water would be transferred daily to Taoyuan County after four pumping stations are completed at the end of next month, officials said.
Water resources officials also said that the digging of 10 new wells in the Shuling township of Taipei County and six new wells near the Touchien River in Hsinchu County would soon be built to access 15,000 tonnes of groundwater daily.
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