Recent rains in central and southern Taiwan have not refilled water reservoirs, prompting the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) to announce that next month would bring further water restrictions to some parts of the nation.
Some areas of Miaoli County and Taichung are to be placed on “red alert,” meaning that water supplies to households and businesses would be on for five days and off for two days, the ministry said yesterday.
Parts of Changhua County closest to the border of Taichung will be included in the tighter restrictions, the ministry said.
Photo: CNA
However, Hsinchu is to be spared further restrictions thanks to water supplied via the Taoyuan-Hsinchu pipeline, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said.
“The Taoyuan-Hsinchu pipeline brings more than 200,000 tonnes of water per day to the Baoshan Reservoir (寶山水庫) and the nearby Baoshan Second Reservoir (寶二水庫) in Hsinchu County, allowing them to be drawn down much more slowly,” Wang said.
The Baoshan Second Reservoir is just 9.02 percent full, Water Resources Agency data showed.
Photo: CNA
The two reservoirs supply the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), home to production facilities operated by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) and other tech companies.
The additional restrictions are to take effect on April 6, following Tomb Sweeping Day.
TSMC said it maintains “contingency plans for each stage of the government’s water restrictions.”
“Some TSMC fabs will slightly increase the percentage of water used from tanker trucks to improve flexibility,” the company said.
“The requirement that we cut water usage by 15 percent starting on April 6 will not affect our operations,” it said, without elaborating.
Some tech production zones in Taichung’s Houli District (后里) have their own dedicated water pipelines, so they would not be affected by the rolling two-day outages, Wang said, adding that such zones would only reduce water use by 15 percent.
Major water users would need to transition from an 11 percent to a 13 percent restriction, while other industrial users would need to follow the same rolling outages as households.
“Most buildings have water towers that hold more than a two-day supply if the water is carefully conserved,” Wang said.
“Similarly, we’ve checked that businesses have water reserves that will last them two days so that production can continue undisrupted,” Wang said. “Other areas that have their own water supplies, such as those with groundwater wells, will be allowed to continuously use those resources.”
The government is hoping that the “plum rains,” which usually start next month, would help to replenish reservoirs, and that Taiwan would have typhoons this year.
Meanwhile, the government has been seeding clouds and digging wells.
“We have to expect the best, but prepare for the worst,” Wang said. “Even if the plum rains don’t bring much rain in May, we can continue living and our businesses can continue producing.”
If the situation remains dire, the restrictions would be tightened, she said, adding that she could not predict the duration of the crisis.
Taiwan was last placed on a “red alert” in 2015 and 2002, Water Resources Agency Deputy Director-General Wang Yi-feng (王藝峰) said.
“The reservoirs are actually at lower levels than they were in either 2015 or 2002,” Wang said. “But thanks to efforts such as the Hsinchu-Taoyuan pipeline, the desalination plant and emergency wells we have managed to hold on for this long before being placed on ‘red alert.’”
Additional reporting by Reuters
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,