TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Tighter water restrictions are set to be introduced in many areas of western Taiwan today (Feb. 25) amid severe water shortages across the country.
Tainan City and Chiayi County will be raised from a yellow to an orange alert, which requires limiting total water usage and reducing water supplies, according to CNA. Meanwhile, southern parts of Changhua, Yunlin, and Nantou counties, as well as Kaohsiung City, will be placed on yellow alert, meaning those areas will see reduced water pressure.
The Water Resources Agency (WRA) will require industrial users in Hsinchu, Miaoli, and Taichung to reduce water usage by 11 percent, while Tainan City and Chiayi County will see industrial water usage slashed by 7 percent. The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) is set to introduce quantity control measures throughout the country’s science and industrial parks with the goal of increasing water recycling.
The Hsinchu Science Park should have no problem cutting water usage by 11 percent in the near-term, according to Fu Jin-men (傅金門), deputy director of the MOST’s Hsinchu Science Park Bureau. Companies that are unable to reduce water usage will most likely resort to having water trucked in, he said. Fu added that daily water usage in the science park currently stands at around 140,000-150,000 metric tons, with a water recycling rate of around 85 percent.
The Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau and Southern Taiwan Science Park Bureau both said they will work with companies in their respective zones to follow water rationing measures. Manufacturers in Tainan’s Southern Taiwan Science Park have been adhering to the 7 percent reduction since last November, according to bureau deputy director Cheng Hsiu-jung (鄭秀絨).
According to Wang Yi-feng (王藝峰), deputy director-general of the WRA, two solutions manufacturers can turn to are increasing wastewater recycling and mobile water treatment systems for companies that need clean water for production. He noted that the WRA is planning to use six mobile water purification systems in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, and Miaoli, which can supply 9,000 metric tons of water a day.
