Facilities to supply water to Taoyuan are under construction, and normal water supply might be available as early as Thursday, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said yesterday.
"We've done our best to complete all of the construction by Wednesday. Therefore, normal water supplies to Taoyuan will be available Thursday," Minister of Economic Affairs Ho Mei-yueh (
PHOTO: LUO CHENG-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Premier Yu Shyi-kun previously set tomorrow as the deadline for fixing problems related to the unexpected water supply suspension in the area after Typhoon Aere hit Taiwan last month.
According to the ministry's Water Resources Agency, technicians are making an effort to have water supplies to Taoyuan back to normal by Wednesday.
Agency Director-General Chen Shen-hsien (陳伸賢) said yesterday that technicians had enabled a pump station installed at Shihmen Dam in Taoyuan County to pump untreated water stored at the reservoir into three storage tanks, each with a capacity of 70 tonnes.
A 3km pipe is also under construction, which will connect the tanks with the Shihmen Main Canal, through which untreated water would then be transferred to the Pingjen Water Treatment Plant.
As of yesterday, two-thirds of the pipe had been completed.
"When the construction work has been completed, more than 200,000 tonnes of water will be transferred to the water supply system daily to further meet customers' needs," Chen said.
Due to the construction, the reservoir will be closed as of today, but may be reopened at the end of this month.
According to the Taiwan Water Supply Corp, as of yesterday 154,340 households out of the 1,450,016 affected have had their tap-water services restored.
However, water supplies remain unstable, and the turbidity of the tap water remains higher than desired.
Agency officials operating Shihmen Dam said yesterday that heavy rains washed a great deal of silt, soil, mud, driftwood and debris from the mountains down to the reservoir's catchment areas upstream.
Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu Li-lun (朱立倫) yesterday inspected several construction sites.
Facing complaints from shop-owners and the tourist industry about the uncovered pipes that have been installed along main traffic routes, Chu yesterday expressed his appreciation for residents' toleration of the "inconvenience."
"All temporary pipes will be removed after water supplies become normal. A new system will be rebuilt underground for permanent use," Chu said.
Meanwhile, Chu distanced himself from political bickering with Vice President Annette Lu (
"Talking about such things [political squabbling] is not important at all. Ensuring water supplies to residents is," Chu said.
Lu, however, continued her complaints, saying yesterday that Chu's criticism of her indifference to the affairs in her hometown set a bad example.
"It's administratively unethical for local government officials to blame everything related to natural disasters on the central government," Lu said.
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