The newly built Hushan Reservoir (湖山水庫) in southern Taiwan is expected to become operational in July, supplying water to Yunlin County, which has a land subsidence problem caused by groundwater overdraft, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Water Resources Agency.
Last year, 75 percent of the land subsidence in Taiwan occurred in Yunlin over a 600km2 area, agency director-general Wang Ruei-de (王瑞德) said.
The groundwater overdraft problem in Yunlin is expected to ease after Hushan Reservoir starts working at full capacity, he said.
The reservoir, completed in December last year after 14 years of construction, began collecting water on Saturday last week and is scheduled to go into service in July, Wang said.
Built on the largest dam in the nation, it has an optimal capacity of 52.18 million cubic meters and a catchment area of 6.58km2.
Initially, it is to supply about 50,000 tonnes of water per day to consumers, Wang said, adding that it will take another 12 to 18 months before the reservoir starts working at full capacity.
By June next year, water supplied to Yunlin from Hushan Reservoir and the nearby Jiji Dam is expected to reach 432,000 tonnes per day, according to the agency.
Amid growing environmental awareness, there has been speculation that Taiwan will stop building such structures, but agency officials said there are still many suitable areas in the nation to accommodate reservoirs.
However, the agency will not build one without the consent of local residents, the officials said.
During the construction of Hushan Reservoir, work was delayed several times due to issues related to environmental protection and the preservation of historic sites.
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