Since December last year, the TWD has been providing about 2.69 million cubic meters of water from the Feitsui Reservoir per day, including 1.22 million cubic meters, or 45 percent of the total, for the use of Taipei, while supplying 1.47 million cubic meters, or 55 percent, to New Taipei, according to Chiu Fu-li, chief of the TWD's water supply division.
Of the 1.47 million cubic meters, 560,000 are piped to several TWD service areas in New Taipei, including Xindian, Sanchung, Yonghe and parts of Zhonghe, Chiu said.
In addition, it has been transferring 910,000 cubic meters of water daily to other areas of New Taipei, including 100,000 cubic meters to support the First Branch of the Taiwan Water Corp.'s (TWC) water supply to Tamsui and Xizhi in New Taipei and help ease the water supply burden on Xinshan Reservoir, which supplies to Keelung City and Xizhi.
The other 810,000 cubic meters have been used to support the TWC's 12th Branch's water supplies to several other districts of New Taipei, such as Banqiao, Xinzhuang, Luzhou and Wugu, while helping reduce the burden on Shihmen Reservoir, which supplies water to Taoyuan and New Taipei's Banqiao and Xinzhuang, as well as various other districts.
The move is also helpful for Shihmen Reservoir to transfer water to Hsinchu and Miaoli, Chiu noted.
TWD charges NT$5.9 (US$0.21) for every cubic meter of water transferred to New Taipei for the first 380,000 cubic meters and NT$3.5 for the remaining 530,000 cubic meters, according to Chiu.
Given that the Feitsui Reservoir, which supplies water to the greater Taipei area, currently still holds 283.24 million cubic meters after deducting Taipei's daily water consumption of 1.78 million cubic meters, the city has been able to transfer the water to support the other cities and counties, and will be able to continue doing so for the coming four months, Chiu indicated.
