March 3 is World Water Day, but Taiwan, which has always had abundant rain, is facing a serious water shortage in central and southern China. According to the statistics of Taiwan's "Water Resources Administration", as of the 22nd, the water storage rate of 22 major reservoirs in Taiwan has fallen below 13%.

The reservoir is in danger of bottoming out, the ground is dry and cracked, disputes over water grabbing and robbing water appear from time to time, agricultural irrigation and people's lives are affected... The water shortage crisis that Taiwan is experiencing is even more severe than the "century-old drought" two years ago.

After a long period of drought and no rain, a large number of cracks appeared in the waters of the upper catchment area of the Zengwen Reservoir. Photo: Lianhe Pao infographic

The beautiful scenery of the past is now a "drought elephant wonder"

"Sun Moon Lake is very deep, and the lake is turquoise. There is a beautiful island in the middle of the lake that divides the lake in half. The north side is like a round sun, called Sun Lake; The south side is like a crooked moon, called Moon Lake. This description of Sun Moon Lake appeared in mainland textbooks and has triggered the longing and yearning of countless people.

Sun Moon Lake Scenic Area. Picture: Sun Moon Lake Scenic Area official website

Today, this beautiful lake in central Taiwan is suffering from drought. The long-term drought and the combination of agricultural irrigation water in Changhua and Yunlin in spring led to a continuous decline in the water level of Sun Moon Lake, and the water storage rate was only 60.5%. The "Nine Frogs Stacked Statue" used to observe the water storage and water conditions in the pool area have all surfaced, causing visiting tourists to exclaim, "All nine have appeared, what an exaggeration!" ”；“ The building body of the mysterious black hole" overflow well has also been revealed, becoming a "drought elephant wonder".

Recently, the "Nine Frog Stacked Images" used to observe the water storage and water conditions in the Sun Moon Lake Reservoir have all surfaced. Photo: Zhongshi News Network

During the flood season, the Sun Moon Lake overflow well is like a "mysterious black hole", but recently the water level in the pool area has dropped sharply, and the building itself is now fully exposed. Photo: Lianhe Daily

In addition to Sun Moon Lake, the water situation of many reservoirs in Taiwan is not optimistic. Data show that as of 22:20 on the 11nd, the water storage rate of Zengwen Reservoir, Taiwan's largest reservoir, was only 3.<>%. Taiwan media photos show that the reservoir catchment area has been exposed in a large area, and a large number of cracks can be seen upstream, and some areas are overgrown with weeds.

The water storage capacity of the Zengwen Reservoir has decreased, and the bottom is bare and overgrown with weeds. Photo: United News Network

The lack of water has affected the growth of Taiwan's crops, and the agricultural damage has been exacerbated. Now that it is the season for the growing of green plum fruits, the fruits in Xinyi and Ren'ai in Nantou County are generally small, and tea plants do not spit out new shoots, and farmers cannot help but worry that this year's spring tea production may face a sharp reduction. According to data from Taiwan's "Agricultural Committee" on the 21st, affected by the drought from February to March, Taiwan's agricultural products lost a total of 2.3 million yuan (New Taiwan dollars, the same below), with tea losing the most 8173.6188 million yuan.

The shortage of water has further affected people's lives. The Qingming holiday is approaching, but the famous scenic spot in Taiwan Chiayi Alishan Fenqihu Old Street has fallen into a water shortage, and businesses have been forced to close down; Due to the lack of rainfall in the mountainous area for more than three months, the spring water source in some areas dried up, and there were even disputes between villages over water grabbing and robbing water.

The severe water situation has led many places to begin to limit water consumption. Tainan, which has implemented reduced water supply, will reduce the supply of large water users and non-industrial water users by 1000% and industrial users by 20%-5% per month, except for those with special medical or other characteristics. Swimming pools, car washes, "three warmths", spa operators and other water that are not urgently needed will also be reduced by 20%.

The DPP's weak government has exacerbated the lack of water

You know, Taiwan's average annual rainfall is as high as 2500,<> mm, three times the global average, but in recent years there have been frequent water shortages, what is the reason behind this?

Some Taiwan media analyzed that although Taiwan has abundant precipitation, due to the steep slopes of mountains and the concentration of rainy areas, the rainwater quickly flows into the sea, and the available water resources are less.

Climate change is also one of the causes. So far, Taiwan has not had typhoons make landfall for more than three consecutive years, and the south has not had heavy rainfall greater than 3 mm for more than 600 days. Although the rainfall in Taiwan remained normal from December 200 to February this year, rainwater was unevenly distributed, with rainfall in the central and southern regions being less than 2022% of the previous annual average.

The Taiwan Meteorological Department said that the earliest time to lift the drought may not wait until May, and this is not a 5% guarantee, and it is necessary to observe whether the rainy season will report on time.

In addition to natural causes, Taiwan's water shortage has been intractable in recent years, and it is inseparable from the DPP authorities' ineffective governance.

At the water seminar held on the 22nd, Taiwan's "Central Drought Disaster Response Center" adjusted the water light numbers in Hsinchu, Miaoli and Taichung (including North Changhua) to represent slightly tighter water conditions, calling on the public to save water and reduce water consumption; Due to the large changes in the flow of the Gaoping River, Kaohsiung turned into an "orange lantern" that reduced water supply. This decision attracted questions from netizens: "On weekdays, we should estimate the amount of water inventory, implement segmented pressure reduction to save water, and wait until there is almost no water to limit water."

Netizen comments. Source: Facebook related news comment area

In fact, the Taiwan authorities claimed to have made great efforts to cope with the lack of water for several years, but they have always achieved little results.

According to Taiwan's China Times, the DPP authorities have invested 2507.<> billion yuan on water resources in the "forward-looking infrastructure plan," and "this astronomical figure is out of nowhere."

Wang Hongwei, a public opinion representative of the Chinese Kuomintang, said that the authorities spent a lot of money to rescue water shortages, but the result is still water shortage every year.

Chen Wanhui, a public opinion representative of the Taiwan People's Party, pointed out that Taiwan lacks effective means of saving water, and the authorities have always held a fluke mentality, repeatedly claiming that the water supply is normal, and that agricultural water is used to meet industrial water, and that drought-resistant wells are urgently dug only if they cannot hold on. The biggest dilemma of throttling comes from the generally aging and badly damaged water pipelines in all parts of Taiwan, resulting in an annual leakage rate of 13.6%, with a leakage of about 4.1518 million tons, equivalent to the storage capacity of 75.4 Nanhua reservoirs.

Chan said that seeing that a large amount of water resources have been lost, the authorities should speed up the replacement of water pipes, add midstream water storage facilities, and arrange repair operations as soon as possible.

Qiu Chenyuan, a public opinion representative of the Taiwan People's Party, said that the authorities have constantly boasted that they have begun to promote the "forward-looking construction" of the water environment since 2017, and the annual siltation of each reservoir is still much greater than the amount of dredging, and hundreds of billions of yuan are still helpless in the face of drought, calling for pragmatic response plans.

Is Taiwan just lacking water?

In addition to water shortage, there are many problems plaguing Taiwan today.

Since the DPP authorities came to power, not only have they failed to effectively solve the problem of "five shortages (lack of water, electricity, land, talent, and manpower)", but the recent crisis of "lack of eggs" and "lack of medicine" has also accelerated and worsened, and netizens laughed that "the DPP has been in power for seven years, leaving an embarrassing record of 'seven deficiencies'".

Egg racks in supermarkets or stores are often empty, and people queuing up to buy eggs can be seen everywhere, and the popular greetings on the streets and alleys of Taiwan have changed from "Have you eaten enough" to "Have you bought eggs"; Even Han Jiayu, chairman of Dacheng Enterprise, the largest egg merchant in Taiwan, said bluntly, "It's not easy even for me to get eggs, it's never been so difficult."

Some Taiwanese people said on social media, "Under the DPP rule, Taiwan seems to lack everything." "Taiwan Awakening News" commented that "Wufu Minfeng" has become an unattainable dream of the Taiwan people.

Netizen comments. Source: Facebook related news comment area

The people's livelihood economy is always the most concerned issue of the people, so many "lacking" at the head, I don't know how the DPP authorities should solve the problem?

(China News Service WeChat public account)