Two desalination plants are set to begin operations this month, as the government seeks to mitigate the effects of little rainfall over the past few months, the Water Resources Agency said on Wednesday.
One of the plants, in Hsinchu City, is scheduled to begin trial operations in the middle of this month and provide 9,000 tonnes of water per day to the city by the end of this month, the agency said in a statement.
Construction of the other plant, in Kaohsiung, is almost complete, it said, adding that the plant is likely to begin trial operations by the end of the month.
Limits on water use remain in effect in parts of Taiwan, particularly in the south, where reservoirs have received little to no rain since September last year.
On March 24, the Executive Yuan approved a plan to supply an additional 136,000 tonnes of water to southern Taiwan per day through better water management and newly drilled wells, among other measures.
The agency has recently raised the water conservation alerts for Tainan and Kaohsiung from “yellow” to “orange,” the second-highest level on the agency’s four-tier alert system.
Under an orange alert, industrial water users and nonindustrial heavy users face restricted water supply. A “red” alert, the highest on the scale, would mandate water rationing.
The agency said it has also placed supply limits on swimming pools, car washes, saunas and aquatic therapy centers.
The agency has also issued a “yellow” alert for Chiayi County and Chiayi City, meaning water pressure during off-peak hours would be reduced.
Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, Taichung and northern Changhua County have been placed on a “green” alert — the lowest level on the agency’s scale, resulting in no supply restrictions.
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