The Water Resources Agency (WRA) is preparing for cloud seeding operations around the island to help boost rainfall amid concerns over a water shortage in parts of northern Taiwan, it said in a statement Sunday.
The agency set up a disaster response team on Saturday to develop plans to cope with a possible drought, and it decided to immediately initiate cloud seeding operations.
On Sunday, it notified the management offices of Shimen Reservoir, Feitsui Reservoir, Xishi Reservoir and Gongliao Weir in northern Taiwan and Tsengwen Reservoir in the south to be ready for cloud seeding operations in anticipation of an afternoon thunderstorm system.
The average rainfall in Taiwan in July was 8.3 centimeters, down 63.9 percent from a year earlier and the lowest for the month since 2008, in part because no typhoons made landfall during the month, according to a report by Taiwan’s statistics bureau.
The relatively low amount of rainfall since July has had a particularly serious impact on the Xinshan Reservoir, which serves Keelung and New Taipei’s Xizhi District, drawing its reserves down to 37.3 percent of its capacity, according to the WRA.
As a result, the WRA has issued a “yellow” water alert for Keelung and Xizhi to take effect Sept. 3, indicating water pressure in those areas will be lowered from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.
The WRA also imposed “green” water alerts Saturday for the rest of New Taipei, Taoyuan and Tainan, meaning people in these areas should be aware of the possibility of water shortages.
Based on the WRA’s four-color water shortage warning system, the lowest level is green, followed by yellow, orange and the most severe level, red.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel