Southern Taiwan's Water Shortage Alert Puts Technology Industry, Including Wafer Foundries and Panel Factories, on High Alert

Southern Taiwan is currently experiencing its worst drought in 30 years. The Taiwan Water Corporation has announced that starting from March 1, the water regime lights in Tainan will be adjusted to "orange lights," resulting in a 10% reduction in water supply. Additionally, industrial users in non-science parks and industrial areas consuming over 1,000 degrees of water per month must also save 10% of water.

The south of Taiwan relies on typhoon rainfall, but due to a lack of typhoon landfall for 1,272 days and the southern region being separated from the previous heavy rain by 558 days, the water storage capacity of various reservoirs is dwindling. There is also a high probability of less rainfall in the coming season. The "Ministry of Economic Affairs" has announced that from March 1, the Chiayi area will be adjusted to a yellow light for decompression water supply, and Tainan areas will be adjusted to reduce water supply orange lights. To implement water-saving measures, Taishui Corporation requires that certain areas save 10% of water, while non-industrial users, swimming pools, car washes, saunas, spas, and other non-essential water consumption per month will gradually reduce water supply by 10% to 20%. Ordinary households will maintain 22:00 at night water supply under reduced pressure until 6:00 the next day. To ensure compliance, the Taiwan Water Company will send a water supply reduction notice to large users and check for excess water supply. If necessary, county and city governments will implement the lead seal supply reduction measures for the second time.

The "Executive Yuan" has instructed the "Ministry of Economic Affairs" to work towards regional governance and water resource sharing capacity, as well as the addition of drought-resistant wells. The aim is to increase the daily supply of 136,000 tons of water by the end of April. The water situation in Kaohsiung is also not optimistic. The policy is to guide large water users to save water. During the dry season from November to April of the following year, water consumption fees will be levied on large water users whose monthly consumption exceeds 9,000 degrees. This policy started on February 1 this year, and the Water Conservancy Department expects the industry to propose more efficient water-saving measures.