The Jinjiang–Kinmen Pipeline is a pipeline that supplies

drinking water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

from Jinjiang City in

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

Kinmen County Kinmen, alternatively known as Quemoy, is a group of islands governed as a county by the Republic of China (Taiwan), only east from the city of Xiamen in Fujian, located at the southeastern coast of the People's Republic of China, from which ...

Fujian Province, Republic of China Fuchien ( ), formerly romanized as Fukien, is a ''de jure'' administrative division of Taiwan (ROC), whose constitution retains provinces as a titular division with no practical administrative function. It includes three small archipe ...

Background

Being a small island

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

, Kinmen had been facing

water scarcity Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity. One is ''physical.'' The other is ''economic water scarcity''. Physic ...

problems for years. In 2013, the county drew more than 8,000 tonnes of

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 fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

every day.

Reservoirs A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of water, interrup ...

were barely sufficient to supply water during

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The t ...

. The

Kinmen County Government The Kinmen County Government () is the local government of the Republic of China that governs Kinmen County. Organizational structures Bureau * Civil Affairs Bureau * Finance Bureau * Education Bureau * Economic Development Bureau * Public W ...

considered seawater

desalination Desalination is a process that removes mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination is the removal of salts and minerals from a substance. One example is Soil salinity control, soil desalination. This is important for agric ...

as one of several options. However, the cost of desalination was too much for the county government to bear. Therefore, purchasing water from mainland China was the most feasible solution.

History

Kinmen County first expressed their intention to purchase water from mainland China in 1996 when it suffered from severe drought. In 2000, the Water Resources Bureau accessed the idea of creating such infrastructure project. In June 2013, Taiwan and mainland China agreed to cooperate to solve the water shortage in Kinmen during the

Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement The Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement, commonly abbreviated CSSTA and sometimes alternatively translated Cross-Strait Agreement on Trade in Services, is a treaty between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) th ...

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. In late August 2013, a delegation from Kinmen County led by Kinmen County Deputy Commissioner Wu You-qin () held talks with their mainland counterparts in mainland China. In 2014, the

Executive Yuan The Executive Yuan () is the executive (government), executive branch of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Under the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China, amended constitution, the head of the Execut ...

gave approval for the Jinjiang–Kinmen Pipeline project. On 23–24 May 2015, Head of

Taiwan Affairs Office The Taiwan Affairs Office is an administrative agency under the State Council of the People's Republic of China (PRC). It is responsible for cross-strait relations and sets and implements guidelines and policies related to Taiwan, which is cl ...

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 f ...

visited Kinmen to discuss the water supply plan from Fujian to Kinmen while touring the Tianpu Reservoir. Later in July 2015, both sides signed the agreement for mainland China to supply drinking water to Kinmen by the water authorities of both sides.

Inauguration ceremony

The water started its maiden supply on 5 August 2018 in a ceremony named ''Cross-Strait Water Supply Ceremony'' in

Chinese language Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39& ...

which was attended by Kinmen County Magistrate

Chen Fu-hai Chen Fu-hai (; born 3 June 1963) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the List of county magistrates of Kinmen, Magistrate of Kinmen, Kinmen County from 2014 to 2018, and again since 25 December 2022 as an independent politician. Education Chen ob ...

and Kinmen County Constituency

Legislator A legislator, or lawmaker, is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people, but they can be appointed, or hereditary. Legislatures may be supra-nat ...

Yang Cheng-wu Yang Cheng-wu (; born 26 June 1972) is a Taiwanese politician. He is the incumbent chairman of the Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corporation. He had served as Magistrate of Kinmen County since 25 December 2018 until 25 December 2022, h ...

. Separately at the same day in mainland China, a separate ceremony was held at Jinjiang City which was attended by

Director Liu Jieyi, former Fujian Province Governor

Yu Weiguo Yu Weiguo (; born October 1955) is a Chinese politician who served as Party Secretary of Fujian. Prior to that he served as Deputy Party Secretary and Governor of Fujian, and Party Secretary of Xiamen. Biography Yu was born in Wendeng, Shandong ...

and more than 20 councilors of

Kinmen County Council The Kinmen County Council (KMCC; ) is the elected county council of Kinmen County, Republic of China. The council composes of 19 councilors lastly elected through the 2022 Republic of China local election on 26 November 2022. Speakers * Wang Za ...

Technical specification

From mainland China, the water is mainly sourced from Longhu Lake () which has a capacity of 655 million m³ of water. The lake is the second largest lake in

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern 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 capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

. From the lake, the water goes to a

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

pumping station Pumping stations, also called pumphouses, are public utility buildings containing pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are critical in a variety of infrastructure systems, such as water supply, Land reclamation, ...

and transported inland to the coastal city of Bingzhou before being transported through an undersea pipe which spans over a length of 16.7 km through the straits separating

and Kinmen. After reaching Kinmen Island, the pipeline goes for another 300 meters inland to a water treatment plant before supplying the Tianpu Reservoir. The maximum capacity of the pipe can reach up to 55,000 tonnes per day.

Finance

Both sides signed an agreement on a 30-year water purchase agreement. Under the agreement, Kinmen imports at an average of 34,000 tonnes of water per day at a cost of NT$9.86 per cubic meter of water. The total cost for the pipeline construction was NT$1.35 billion.

References