Piston Water Pump at Yingfeng DogRun Area 20141014a

Water supply and sanitation in Taiwan is characterized by uneven distribution of

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

and a dense population.

Water resources

The

Central Mountain Range The Central Mountain Range is the principal mountain range on the island of Taiwan. It runs from the north of the island to the south. Due to this separation, connecting between the west and east is not very convenient. The tallest peak of th ...

is the main mountain range running from north to south of the island. Most of the rivers on the island flow from east to west following the contour of the mountains. Although the annual rainfall is up to 2,510 mm, which is 2.5 times higher than the world's average, the distribution of the rainfall is not even due to the geographical condition of Taiwan. In the period of 2000-2009, Taiwan had 95.07 billion tons of annual rain

. From there, 20.00 billion tons evaporated (21%), 70.10 billion tons became

surface runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when t ...

(74%) and 4.97 billion tons became

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

(5%). Added from groundwater overdraft of 0.63 billion tons, the total groundwater pumping was 5.60 billion tons. From the surface runoff water, 54.70 billion tons was discharged to the sea, 4.35 billion tons became water supply for

reservoirs A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...

and 11.05 billion tons became river water diversion.https://eng.wra.gov.tw/7618/7664/7718/7724/12929/

Water scarcity

Despite its high annual rainfall, Taiwan is only able to use 20% of it as

water resource Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. 97% of the water on the Earth is salt water and only three percent is fresh water; slightl ...

, making it in the 18th place under the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

global ranking in terms of being water resource poor region.

Kinmen

Kinmen Kinmen, alternatively known as Quemoy, is a group of islands governed as a county by the Republic of China (Taiwan), off the southeastern coast of mainland China. It lies roughly east of the city of Xiamen in Fujian, from which it is separat ...

water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Th ...

has been scarce over the past decades due to its shallow lakes, lack of rainfall and geographical constraints which makes building

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contr ...

s and dams unfeasible. Water from reservoirs is barely enough to meet the demand during dry seasons. Therefore, Kinmen often overuse its

for up to 8,000 tonnes per day, causing rising tidal flood and

soil salinity Soil salinity is the salt (chemistry), salt content in the soil; the process of increasing the salt content is known as salinization. Salts occur naturally within soils and water. Salination can be caused by natural processes such as mineral wea ...

. In early September 2013 after Kinmen Deputy Commissioner Wu You-qin led a delegation to visit Mainland China, the Chinese Mainland government agreed to supply Kinmen with water from Jinjiang City in

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its ...

. An undersea 16.7 km water pipeline will be built to carry water from the Shanmei Reservoir in Jinjiang city to coastal area of Kinmen. The pipeline is expected to deliver a maximum amount of 30,000 tonnes of water each day to Kinmen. A further 300 meter of water pipe will be constructed to a water treatment plant. On 23–24 May 2015, Head of

Taiwan Affairs Office The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council is an administrative agency under the State Council of Mainland China. It is responsible for setting and implementing guidelines and policies related to the Republic of China (Taiwan), as stipul ...

Zhang Zhijun Zhang Zhijun (; born 1 February 1953) is a Chinese diplomat and politician. From 17 March 2013 to 21 March 2018, he has served as the Minister of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council. He is currently the president of the Association ...

visited Kinmen to discuss the water supply plan from Fujian to Kinmen. The initial stage is to supply 15,000 m³ of fresh water a day, to be increased to 34,000 m³ a day in the medium-term and to 55,000 m³ in the long-term. The water company in Fujian will build a pumping station and pipeline to the coastal town of Bingzhou and the pipeline will be connected to a 17-km underground water pipeline to Tianpu in Kinmen which will cost NT$1.35 billion.

Water consumption

The annual per capita water allowance is 4,000 m³ and the current average

water consumption A water footprint shows the extent of water use in relation to consumption by people. The water footprint of an individual, community, or business is defined as the total volume of fresh water used to produce the goods and services consumed by th ...

per capita in Taiwan is 271 liter per day. In 2001, the annual water usage for Taiwan was 18,600 million tons, which was divided into

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

(12,290 million tons), domestic (3,600 million tons), industry (1,750 million tons) and conservation (9,600 million tons).https://www.ncdr.nat.gov.tw/itp2006/download/02.reports/01.Taiwan/06Profile%20on%20Taiwan%20Water%20Resources.pdf Reservoir water supply, river water diversion and groundwater pumping made up the total water consumption for Taiwanese, which was 21.00 billion tons in total. Among them, 3.53 billion tons was used for household consumption (20%), 1.66 billion tons was used for industrial consumption (9%) and 15.81 billion tons was used for

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

consumption.

Institutions

Taiwan Water Corporation The Taiwan Water Corporation (TWC; ) is a state-owned water utility providing water supply to most of Taiwan and offshore islands. The company is headquartered in North District, Taichung. History On 16 December 1972, President Chiang Ching-k ...

is the state-owned water utility providing water supply to most of Taiwan.

References

External links

Why water supply is so troublesome in Taiwan - Taipei Times

Pollution, water supply need action - Taipei Times

Can Taiwan Solve its Water Problem? - Taiwan Business TOPICS
{{Water supply and sanitation by country