The 36-hour water cutoff for Taoyuan County and 10 townships in Taipei County, which has been in effect since May 18, will be lifted for the first time tomorrow, the Cabinet's drought disaster-relief center announced yesterday.
Kuo Yao-chi (
At yesterday's regular meeting held by the Cabinet's drought disaster-relief center, participants from diverse agencies, including the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Water Resources Agency (WRA) and chiefs of local governments, decided not to impose the 36-hour-water-cutoffs over the holiday weekend.
The regular weekend water-cutoffs have not been lifted yet, Kuo said, but the center considering lifting the restrictions at the end of June.
Recent showers
"Recent showers have eased the drought's stress a little bit, making it unnecessary for residents in Hsinchu and Miaoli counties to suffer from water rationing measures," Kuo said at a press conference yesterday.
That means residents, beginning today, can use tap water to wash their cars, fill up swimming pools, turn on fountains or for other recreational purposes.
Yesterday, the water level at the Paoshan Dam (
Kuo stressed, however, that water conservation is still important because the "plum rains" would stop at the end of June. After that people could only depend on typhoons and afternoon showers to refill reservoirs, he added.
Reduced-pressure evening water supply restrictions in the Hsinchu area will remain in effect until the Shihmen Dam is at full capacity, Kuo said.
By yesterday, the water surface at the reservoir had risen to the 202m level, marking the highest level since early May when the water rationing measures began. The water in the reservoir accounts for about 6.2 percent of its effective capacity.
"As long as the water surface reaches the 205m level, we will consider lifting the water restrictions," Chen Shen-hsien (
Shihmen dam
Recent showers brought the Shihmen Dam more than 200mm of rainfall. Meanwhile, water resources officials said yesterday that river water at Sanhsia River (
Feisui Reservois
The Feitsui Reservoir (
According to Taipei City government spokesman Wu Yu-sheng (
Yesterday, weather forecasters at the Central Weather Bureau kept warning that mountainous areas in northern Taiwan were anticipating torrential rains brought by a low-pressure area, which would not leave Taiwan until tomorrow.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe