Water rationing has been introduced in Hsinchu, Taichung and the northern part of Changhua County, where water pressure is to be reduced during off-peak hours as a lack of rain continues, the Central Emergency Operations Center said on Thursday.
A “yellow” water conservation alert has been issued for the three areas, which means pressure is to be reduced daily between 10pm and 6am, the center said.
An “orange” alert has been maintained for Kaohsiung and Tainan, limiting the commercial water supply, with restrictions planned to be tightened starting on Thursday, the center said.
Photo: Huang Shu-li, Taipei Times
Nonindustrial businesses with a water consumption of more than 1,000m3 per month — such as swimming pools, car washes, saunas and aquatic therapy specialists — have had their monthly conservation target increased to 15 percent from 10 percent, it said.
While water conservation in the two cities has been commendable, 40 percent of Kaohsiung’s largest consumers have not attained their monthly target, Water Resources Agency Director-General Lai Chien-hsin (賴建信) said.
The agency is to issue letters to those consumers, instructing them to increase their conservation efforts, and those who do not meet the target could have their supply cut off, he said.
As the planting season is about to peak next month, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) has tasked the water agency and the Irrigation Agency to draft strategic solutions for the agricultural sector, Lai said.
Although some rain is expected over the weekend, it would do little to alleviate the water shortage in southern Taiwan, Central Weather Bureau Deputy Director-General Fong Chin-tzu (馮欽賜) said.
Rain today and tomorrow is expected to fall mostly in northern and central Taiwan, and only in mountainous areas of the south, Fong said.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
RSS