PHASE ONE WATER RATIONING IN CHIAYI AND TAINAN ON APRIL 5|水情吃緊 4/5嘉義.台南啟動一階限水

The Ministry of Economic Affairs convened the second emergency response meeting to address the nation's water shortage problem. Starting from Apr. 5, phase-one water rationing will begin in Chiayi and Tainan. Areas which have adopted phase-one water rationing will continue facing water restrictions. In a separate meeting, the Taipei Water Department also agreed to lower the price of processed water it sells to Taiwan Water Corp. There will be a discount for purchases over 380,000 tons. A lack of rainfall has caused falling water storage levels at reservoirs across Taiwan. Precipitation in the past three months was only a little bit more than half of the same period of previous years. This year, Tsengwen Dam and Nanhua Dam, which provides municipal water to Chiayi and Tainan, received precipitation 60 percent less than the past few years. To address the nation's water shortage problem, the Ministry of Economic Affairs convened the second emergency response meeting and announced that phase-one water rationing will be implemented in Chiayi and Tainan. ==YANG WEI-FUU Vice Minister of Economic Affairs== Rainfall is mostly in Northern Taiwan. Water levels in two main reservoirs in Chiayi, Lantan Dam and Renyitan Dam, have declined to alarming levels. Water levels at the Nanhua Dam in Tainan also face the same problem. The Water Resources Agency hoped that phase-two rationing will not be imposed in any areas around Taiwan by late April, and household water supply will not be affected by late May. New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Kaohsiung have adopted phase-one water rationing. Starting from Apr. 5, water rationing will also begin in Chiayi and Tainan. Water pressure will be reduced by 5 percent during off-peak hours. Taiwan Water Corp. said that it used NT$1 billion to buy processed water from Taipei Water Department this year. To ease the company's financial burden, the WRA invited the two for negotiation. ==LAI CHIEN-HSIN WRA Director== The water was sold at NT$5.9 per 1,000 liters for amounts less than 380,000 tons. The new price for purchasing more than 380,000 tons will be NT$3.5 per 1,000 liters. It will help to ease the burden of Taiwan Water Corp. Starting from Apr.1, a new price for water purchases will be implemented for the rest of 2017, the first adjustment since 2007. There will be yet another price adjustment in 2018. TRANSLATED BY：ARIEL HSIEH 水情吃緊，經濟部今天召開旱災緊急應變小組第二次會議，宣布4/5開始，嘉義、台南實施一階限水，而已經啟動一階限水的高雄等地區，繼續維持。同時，台水公司向北水處買水的水價協商，也達成共識，未來抗旱期間水的調度，超過 38 萬噸以上，將會降價。 今年水庫集水區的降雨情況不樂觀，從北到南的水庫，最近三個月降雨量，大多都比往年同期幾乎少了一大半，尤其是供應嘉義台南地區的曾文和南化水庫，降雨量不到往年的40%，因應水情吃緊，經濟部召開旱災緊急應變小組第二次會議，宣布嘉義、台南也要實施第一階段限水。 ==經濟部次長 楊偉甫== 最近的雨量有一些進來 是在台中以北 嘉義地區目前的兩座主要水庫 蘭潭跟仁義潭兩座水庫 都是貼著我們目前的警戒值在走 台南的部分是南化水庫 是主要的水源 南化水庫目前的蓄水量 也是一樣在貼著我們 現在的警戒線在走 水利署指出，希望在4月底前，所有地區都不進入第二階段限水，5月底前的民生用水不受影響。目前，中彰地區以及苗栗，水情稍緊，原本一階限水的有新北市、桃園市、新竹縣和高雄市，從4月5日開始，再加入嘉南地區，將於離峰時段進行減壓供水。也因為水情吃緊，台灣自來水公司估算，今年向台北自來水處購買清水的金額高達10億元，水利署邀集雙方協商，總算達成共識。 ==水利署長 賴建信== 原來(買水量)30萬噸以下的 （每度)5.9元 提升到38萬噸 但是38萬噸水以上的話 水價就降到(每度)3.5元 這種機制的話 可以幫忙 在比如說像今年抗旱的時候 其實它用了更多的水量 對於台水公司 也不會造成負擔 以度過今年乾旱為優先考量，新的水價將從4月1日開始實施，這也是繼2007年後，近10年來首次調整水價，而這個新方案只實施到今年年底，明年會再重新檢討議價。 記者 郭采彥 沈志明 吳嘉堡 台北報導