Heavy rain from storms and weather fronts over the past month has significantly replenished reservoirs in southern Taiwan, but more is needed for irrigation after the current rainy season ends in November, the Water Resources Agency (WRA) said.
As of 4pm yesterday, the Zengwen Reservoir (曾文水庫), the biggest reservoir in the south, was filled to 67.43 percent of capacity with 341.77 million cubic meters of water.
That was about 260 million cubic meters more than the reservoir held at the same time last month, WRA figures showed.
Photo: Su Fu-nan, Taipei Times
The Wushantou Reservoir (烏山頭水庫) in Tainan, which is connected to the Zengwen Reservoir, was at 72.53 percent of capacity with 57.45 million cubic meters of water, giving the two reservoirs combined reserves of nearly 400 million cubic meters of water, the WRA said.
Meanwhile, as of 4pm yesterday, the Nanhua Reservoir (南化水庫), also in Tainan, had accumulated more than 88.95 million cubic meters of water and was at 99.4 percent of capacity.
Although the Nanhua Reservoir was nearly full, the water there is primarily used for households, while water for agricultural and industrial use is sourced primarily from the Zengwen and Wushantou reservoirs.
Many rice farmers were unable to irrigate their fields during the first two planting seasons in southern Taiwan this year because of the lack of water in the Zengwen and Wushantou reservoirs, and the WRA is hoping the situation will not be repeated next year.
The WRA’s Chianan Irrigation Association (嘉南水利會), which covers the agricultural hubs of Chiayi County and Tainan, said about 40 million to 50 million cubic meters of water is needed for the planting of fall crops and another 200 million cubic meters is needed for next year’s first rice planting season. If water needed for miscellaneous crops next spring is included, the association felt that more water is needed in the two reservoirs to ensure that farmers’ irrigation needs can be met.
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