Monday, February 13, 2017

Taiwan News #7: Water water....

One of my favorite topics: water policy...
Elsewhere the waste continues. The water price for industrial users in Taiwan is NT$11 per cubic meter, unchanged for two decades. In 2015, in response to prolonged drought, the government meekly decided to campaign to reduce water use from 270 liters a day per person all the way to 250, but this was a voluntary program, not mandatory.

By comparison, in the UK and Germany water use is already around 2/3 of that figure. The low water prices not only encourage waste, but as the EPA pointed out two years ago when it called for higher water prices, low prices discourage industrial recycling of water, and impede the development of new water-related technology. They also keep the water authority starved for funds, meaning that urgent infrastructure upgrades arrive slowly, if at all.

Very unlikely I will be blogging this week... I will write on the Trump phone call to China fiasco when I get back from an east coast bike ride. Look forward to snarky comments and pretty pictures, dear reader....
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