News
Water levels in six reservoirs below 20%
Courtesy of ICRT
The Water Resources Agency says water levels in six reservoirs have fallen to below 20% of capacity and recent days of rainfall have done little to help alleviate the problem.
According to the agency, as of noon on Monday, water levels at the Bao-shan Reservoir, which provides water for Hsinchu Science Park, stood at 12.43% of its capacity.
The Yong-he-shan Reservoir was at 11.81%, the Ming-de Reservoir at 10.64% and the Li-yu-tan Reservoir was at 15.08% of capacity.
Meanwhile the De-Ji and Zeng-wen reservoirs in Taichung and Chiayi were at 10.19% and 15.22% of their capacities respectively.
However, Tainan's Wu-shan-tou and Nan-hua reservoirs are currently at 49% and 47% of their respective capacities and Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che says he believes the reservoirs have sufficient water until July.
In related news, Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua says there are sufficient water reserves to keep the island's semiconductor sector running until late May.
According to Wang, the drought has so far had no major impact on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing or other chipmakers and monsoon rains are expected to arrive in late May, which will alleviate what is Taiwan's worst drought in decades.
Wang says there is also enough water to supply the public until then.
Administrators of Hsinchu Science Park say they are seeking to dig wells in the park to supply factories there due to concerns about the water shortage.
However, the economics minister says an impact assessment will have to be carried out before that can happen, as the digging of wells could result in land subsidence in the area.
