The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Water Resources Agency (WRA) will form a special task force to study the feasibility of allowing Kinmen to purchase water from China, an official said on Sunday.
Chen Shen-hsien (陳伸賢), head of the agency, made the promise while meeting Kinmen County Commissioner Lee Chu-feng (李炷烽) on the issue.
Chen traveled to Kinmen over the weekend to exchange views with Lee on the county’s request for procuring water from China to help meet its demand for water.
Lee said he hoped the central government would give the green light to Kinmen to import water from China’s Fujian Province.
Kinmen, which lies off the coast of Fujian, has long been troubled by inadequate water supply and poor water quality in its reservoirs, Lee said, adding that the county’s groundwater has been over-exploited.
“If government authorities on both sides of the Taiwan Strait support our proposal, we’ll be able to introduce raw water from China for farmland irrigation or for household use after purification,” Lee said, adding that the measure would contribute to the development of closer ties with China and prevent excessive consumption of the county’s groundwater.
Chen said that the country’s policies, rather than technical difficulties, stand in the way of resolving the problem.
Chen said that a special task force would be formed next week to address the issue.
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