Officials stressed yesterday the importance of water conservation, because water for residential and industrial usage can be ensured only until the end of June.
According to the Cabinet's disaster-relief center -- which was established to deal with the increasing drought -- water levels at the Shihmen Dam (石門水庫) in Taoyuan County -- one of the major water sources of northern Taiwan -- was expected to reach its "dead storage" level (呆水位, the level under which water must be pumped out of the reservoir) on May 25, if rain had not come by then.
"The dam's dead storage amounts to about 15,000 tonnes of water, which is enough to support us until the end of June," said Kuo Yao-chi (
Kuo added that if 80mm rain falls in the middle of May, the dam may reach its "dead storage" level as late as June 10.
The average rainfall during May is about 450mm.
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) predicts that rain will fall this Saturday.
Kuo said that officials had considered imposing stricter water-rationing measures in Taoyuan County and related details would be discussed on May 9.
Although the water levels of most reservoirs are falling, water resource officials said that people should stay calm, as only 19.7 percent of Taiwan's total water consumption, about 18.034 billion tonnes per year, comes from reservoirs -- the rest comes mainly from groundwater sources.
Director-General of the Water Resources Agency (
"It's about survival. I think we can use groundwater wisely at the moment," Hwang said.
Hwang -- who announced his intention to resign on Monday, under pressure from opposition lawmakers -- turned in his resignation to Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (
But the minister asked him to stay on and Hwang decided yesterday to keep working for the time being.
"I still think I'm too old. When this water crisis is over, I'll hand my responsibilities to younger water experts," Hwang said.
Hwang, 65, holds a Ph.D from Japan's Meiji University and he has worked in the water-conservation sector for more than 40 years.
He retired in February from heading both the Water Conservation Agency (水利處) and the Water Resources Bureau (水資局) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
But when the Water Resources Agency -- composed of several water-related units -- was established late March, Hwang was asked by former Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Hsin-yi (林信義), now Vice Premier, to head the new agency.
Legislators have criticized water resources officials' slow response to increasing signs of a coming drought back in late February and early March -- when water shortage at Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park occurred.
Control Yuan members Chao Chang-ping (
"Certain emergency measures could have been taken earlier to decrease the crisis' magnitude," Chao said yesterday.
Chao and Lin's investigative report will be released today.
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Residents have called on the Taipei City Government to reconsider its plan to demolish a four-decades-old pedestrian overpass near Daan Forest Park. The 42-year-old concrete and steel structure that serves as an elevated walkway over the intersection of Heping and Xinsheng roads is to be closed on Tuesday in preparation for demolition slated for completion by the end of the month. However, in recent days some local residents have been protesting the planned destruction of the intersection overpass that is rendered more poetically as “sky bridge” in Chinese. “This bridge carries the community’s collective memory,” said a man surnamed Chuang
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm earlier today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, in this year's Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am, the CWA said. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) with a 100km radius, it said. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA meteorologist Huang En-hung (黃恩宏) said. However, a more accurate forecast would be made on Wednesday, when Yinxing is
NEW DESTINATIONS: Marketing campaigns to attract foreign travelers have to change from the usual promotions about Alishan and Taroko Gorge, the transport minister said The number of international tourists visiting Taiwan is estimated to top 8 million by the end of this year, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shi-kai (陳世凱) said yesterday, adding that the ministry has not changed its goal of attracting 10 million foreign travelers this year. Chen made the remarks at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee to brief lawmakers about the ministry’s plan to boost foreign visitor arrivals. Last month, Chen told the committee that the nation might attract only 7.5 million tourists from overseas this year and that when the ministry sets next year’s goal, it would not include
RSS