The water level at the nation’s largest reservoir is at its highest for November in the 50 years it has been operational, leaving behind drought concerns of recent years, Southern Region Water Resources Office data showed on Wednesday.
The Zengwen Reservoir (曾文水庫), which spans Chiayi County and Tainan, was at 98.55 percent capacity as of 9am on Wednesday, even after releasing water to Tainan’s Wushantou Reservoir (烏山頭水庫), data showed.
The water level had climbed to 229.61m, only 39cm short of full capacity, the office said.
Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Taipei Times
This is compared to the 6.21 percent capacity seen on May 28, the lowest this year, data showed.
Thanks to continuous rainfall in the catchment area and water management by the office, the reservoir was filled on Sept. 11, the office said.
Combined water levels at the Zengwen and Wushantou reservoirs are 2.5 times what they were this time last year, and even 186 million cubic meters more than after Typhoon Morakot in 2009, it said.
The last time the reservoir was full in November was in 2017, but the water level was slightly short of this year’s height at 227m and began falling only four days into the month, the office said.
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