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发帖数: 6973 | 1 (1) Leon Kaye, Taiwan Faces Tough Water Choices; The country needs a fair
use policy and better water conservation to avoid the risk of an economic
disaster. Guardian, June 24, 2011.
http://www.guardian.co.uk
/sustainable-business/taiwan-tough-water-choices
Quote:
Though "Taiwan ranks second in the world in average annual precipitation,
much of its rainfall occurs during sudden typhoons and the country's water
infrastructure captures little of it.
"The per capita water consumption in Taiwan averages 271 liters (72 gallons)
a day, higher than the average daily water usage of Europeans and even
Americans. While agriculture continues to be Taiwan's most water-intensive
industry, its semiconductor industry requires massive amounts of water and
struggles to procure it.
"One reason for the high consumption of water is the low rates paid by
residents throughout the country – one-tenth the price paid in most of
Europe. * * * Meanwhile, Taiwan's high tech sector, which has a water
recycling rate that varies between 65 and 85%, struggles to stay compliant
with the government's water rationing policy.
"So far TSMC has set the water conservation bar the highest. At its Hsinchu
foundry, the company collects about 32,000 tonnes of rainwater for reuse
annually. TSMC's management team constantly looks out for any water-saving
technique available. The company's water conservation programmes include:
collecting water from air conditioning condensation for reuse; recycling
systems effective to the point where the most toxic materials in waste
slurry are scrubbed out and leave the purest water available for
semiconductor processing; and a water infrastructure within its foundries
that diverts recycled water to toilets and other facilities that do not
require pure water.
"While the attention paid to Taiwan's water troubles has focused on
electronics companies, the agriculture industry consumes 70% of the island's
water but contributes only 1.6% to its GDP. The government wants to boost
its national food self-sufficiency rate from 32 to 40%
(2) Pat Gao, Facing a Thirstier Future. Taiwan Review, Feb 1, 2011.
http://taiwanreview.nat.gov.tw
/ct.asp?xItem=47603&CtNode=119
Quote:
"The cost of water has remained unchanged for the last 14 years, with the
average household devoting only 0.5 percent to 0.6 percent of total monthly
expenditures for their water bills. In contrast, households in arid Israel
devote about 10 percent of total monthly household expenditures to paying
water bills, according to figures compiled by that country's Central Bureau
of Statistics. Not surprisingly, Israel has one of the highest rates of
water conservation in the world. In Taiwan, however, the artificially low
price of water effectively discourages conservation and recycling efforts.
Individuals and businesses do not pay anywhere near the actual production
cost of the water they use
"Although water remains cheap, initial conservation efforts have borne
results. On average, per capita water consumption has remained steady since
1993, even as per capita gross domestic product (GDP) has grown. In 1993,
consumption was 287 liters per person per day, while per capita GDP was US$
12,475. In 2006, consumption was 284 liters per person per day, while per
capita GDP had more than doubled to US$28,011.
"Currently, not quite 20 percent of Taiwan's households are served by public
sewerage systems carrying wastewater to treatment plants. While Taiwan's
two biggest cities, Taipei and Kaohsiung, have household connection rates to
wastewater systems of more than 60 percent and 40 percent respectively,
there are counties that still see very low connection rates, with some
hovering close to zero.
"In the industrial sector, which consumes about 9 percent of the nation's
supply of conventional water, conservation efforts are also paying off.
According to the National Council for Sustainable Development, average water
consumption for each NT$100 million (US$3 million) in production value for
the manufacturing sector dropped from more than 35,000 cubic meters in 1998
to 16,000 cubic meters in 2006. * * * Currently, the overall wastewater
recycling rate for all of Taiwan's industries is around 60 percent, with the
rate expected to rise to 65 percent by 2011
"As for the agricultural sector, which consumes about 71 percent of all
water used in Taiwan, the major issue is the amount of unused water that
passes through irrigation systems, eventually emptying into rivers and then
the ocean. 'Around 5 billion metric tons of water just flows away each year,
' the TWEA's Chiou Ren-jie says.
Note: Chiou Ren-jie 邱仁杰 is with a private Taiwan Water Environment
Association 台灣水環境再生協會 (TWEA; http://www.twea.org.tw) and an associate professor in the Department of Environment and Property Management at Taipei County's Jinwen University of Science and Technology 私立景文科技大學. |
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