A limit will be placed on water supplies for heavy water users in northern Taiwan beginning Feb. 6, as recent rains failed to lift water levels at major reservoirs, the Water Resources Agency (WRA) announced yesterday.
At a meeting held by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) to address the impending water shortage in the north, officials decided to reduce water supplies for heavy users to 80 percent in Taipei City and Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu counties. Heavy water users include those who run saunas and car-washing services.
Meanwhile, water supplies to the industrial sector will be reduced to 95 percent.
"The water limit will be effective on the day after the Lantern Festival. And by the end of May, no stricter water conservation measures should be announced in the north," said Chen Shen-hsien (
Chen said that these measures would not affect residents' daily lives or industrial development and estimated that regular water consumption would be 3 percent to 5 percent lower.
Chen said that most firms in the Hsinchu Science Park would not be affected by the new measures because they had already been taking water conservation measures for weeks.
According to the MOEA, agricultural land nationwide to be left fallow from Feb. 1 would amount to 65,000 hectares -- the largest amount left fallow in the nation's history.
Yesterday, at least 20mm of rainfall was measured in Hsinchu, where residents are experiencing the worst drought in the last 10 years. According to the Central Weather Bureau, cold fronts arriving in the following week might bring abundant rainfall to Taiwan.
Water resources officials, however, urged residents to use water wisely because recent rains in the north failed to lift water levels at major reservoirs.
As of yesterday, the water level at Feitsui Reservoir in Taipei County was 154m, while that at Shihmen Dam in Taoyuan was 214m -- both lower than needed for normal water distribution.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to