Greater Taipei unlikely to see water shortages as reservoir replenishes

Taipei, April 18 (CNA) The Greater Taipei area is unlikely to experience water shortages within the next three months due to the heavy downpour Thursday leading to the replenishment of the Feitsui Reservoir, according to the Taipei Feitsui Reservoir Administration.

The Feitsui Reservoir catchment area had accumulated about 38.7 millimeters of rainfall as of 9:50 a.m. Thursday, the administration said.

The amount of water collected is estimated to be over 10 million cubic meters, which alone is equivalent to the storage capacity of the Xinshan Reservoir in Keelung, it said, adding that the downpour had supplied the Greater Taipei area with four days of water.

The Feitsui Reservoir is the largest in Taiwan and can store around 252 million cubic meters of water. It is currently at 68 percent capacity, the administration said.

It added that even after three months water shortages were unlikely in the Greater Taipei area given the upcoming rainy season.

Separately on Thursday, the Water Resources Agency's Northern Region Water Resources Branch said the morning rain had only added a modest amount of water to the Shimen Reservoir catchment area in Taoyuan.

This reservoir, which can store 50.19 million cubic meters of water, had hit 24.56 percent capacity as of noon, the branch office said.

The downpour brought about 9.5 mm of accumulated rainfall, or an estimated 400,000 cubic meters of water, in the morning, it added.

Since the rain fell mostly in the lower reaches of the reservoir, the branch office said it immediately consulted with the Shimen and Taoyuan management offices to suspend water supply to irrigate nearby farms for conservation purposes.

The measure is expected to save about 500,000 cubic meters of water, it added.

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