Water, a seemly lifeless material, displays unique vitality through other beings. Every earthly civilization was born through the gestation of water. The beautiful mountains and rivers that humans depend on for living call for our proper protection and utilization.
The 21st century water resource construction is based on the principle of water fondness and water friendliness, prevents floods due to the changes of environments, at the same time creates ever-lasting water resources, and promotes the harmonic developments of humans and natural surroundings. This is the top priority of “Dayu Today.?
◆ Surveying the Astronmy and Geography
Taiwan is located in the west side of the North Pacific Ocean where typhoons wreak the most serious havoc. Taiwan is invaded by typhoons during summer and fall seasons, while droughts often take place during monsoon periods of spring seasons. In addition, the rivers are short and steep in Taiwan; when there is heavy rain, water rapidly converges in the up-streams of rivers and can easily cause floods in the middle and down-streams. Taiwan faces harsh challenges of the water environments. In recent years, due to the global warming effect, the world’s overall weather changed which caused serious imbalance of water. Excessive human exploitation of the lands has deprived them of emergency-baffling capacity.
A swift change of weather can easily cast impacts and disasters upon the world. Taiwan also faces this global trial. Lately the accumulated rainfall and the rainfall per time unit in typhoon seasons have been breaking the record high, which have caused serious floods and disasters in Taiwan. “Droughts in dry seasons and floods in rainy seasons? has become a phenomenon in Taiwan.
◆ Intelligent Flood Mitigation, Persistent Efforts
The Ministry of Economic Affairs is the superintendent of the central flood and disaster mitigation businesses, responsible for commanding, supervising and coordinating flood mitigation; and in coordination with related administrative institutes of various levels, execute various tasks of flood prevention, emergency dealing, and post-flood reconstruction. The MOEA integrated all the water resource management units and established the Water Resources Agency, MOEA, and aiming at the different water resource needs of Taiwan’s various areas, set up ten river and water resource management offices, Danshuei River flood mitigation command center, Jhuoshuei River flood forecast center, irrigation and water conservation team, tap water business team, and water resource offices in northern, central and southern areas. And the “Center for Water Conservancy and Flood Mitigation? of the MOEA further promotes disaster prevention, emergency measures, and post-flood reconstruction, effectively executing flood mitigation and examination tasks. It plays an important role in the overall flood mitigation system.
From central to local governments, a complete flood mitigation system has been formed to deal with unpredictable floods of typhoons and torrential rains. The flood mitigation measures of the Water Resources Agency, MOEA, can be categorized as “active construction?and “attentive monitoring.? Active construction is to aim at the possible flood areas, conduct thorough analysis and diagnosis, and advance water conservancy and flood mitigation construction. The “Taipei Metropolitan Flood Mitigation Project?is the best example of adopting the two flood mitigation policies of “dredging?and “embanking.
Flood mitigation should start from the upper streams. The up-stream reservoirs have the function and efficiency of storing water and floodwater. The Fei-Tsui and Shih-Men reservoirs in Taipei have brought convenience and safety of water for the lower stream residents. Moreover, the Yuansantze flood diversion tunnel aims at Keelung River, a major cause of Taipei’s floods, and strengthens its flood mitigation criteria; it diverts the peak flow of upstream Keelung River into the East China Sea, lowering the middle and downstream water stages to prevent dike-spillover and flood. The benefited areas extend over Taipei County, City and Keelung City. Meanwhile, the Erchong Floodway was built to divert the flows of Sindian and Dahan rivers; and under “embanking?policy, dikes have been built for the 200-year peak flood frequency alongside the banks of Danshuei River and its branches.
Attentive monitoring is to utilize modern technology and computer information system, integrate software and hardware to provide thorough flood mitigation system. Whenever a typhoon comes, the Central Weather Bureau issues marine and land blue alerts, and various official units launch emergency measure and flood mitigation systems. The “flood forecast system?of Water Resources Agency, MOEA, utilizes advanced communication facility and forms flood alert mechanism, and through the “water resources and meteorology measurement and forecast system? of the “flood forecast system,?instantly detects the rainfall and stage values of every pumping stations and reservoirs, and issues water condition reports for the “flood forecast model?to make precise analysis and predict the river stages in 1 to 6 hours.
Meanwhile, “water gates and pumping stations monitoring system?can accurately report the operation conditions of water gates and pumping stations, effectively carry out flood mitigation orders. The command center is equipped with “information display system?that integrates all data for easy interpretation. Through microwave, satellite, radio and relay stations, the thorough “flood forecast model?accurately transmits flood mitigation messages. In addition, the “water conservancy data bank?archives important historical data of reservoir stages, ground water, rainfalls and tides as the basis for analysis and forecast, instantly grasping rainfall changes to make precise judgment.
Once the water reaches the alarm stage, the command center gives instructions and issues flood announcement and alarm. As the typhoon approaches, the central and local governments, through strict supervision, communication and order execution, divide and coordinate the tasks, effectively reduce typhoon disasters. However, each attack of typhoon is not only a trial of the flood mitigation system, but also a trial of both government and the general public. Facing emergency, some people would risk their lives and break into alarm zones. Improving the general public’s awareness of flood dangers is a task requiring persistent efforts. Only through the cooperation of the general public and government can the water conservancy and flood mitigation efforts reach greatest efficiency.
◆ A New Century Of Fondness And Water Friendliness
Human beings create and change their surroundings, and construction is needed to deal with the environmental changes. As the water resource construction progresses, we must return to the essence of the Nature, obtaining ecological balance and not violating the law of Nature. Through this, we “provide sufficient and excellent water resources?and “protect people from the threats of floods.
Taiwan is located on the west side of the North Pacific Ocean. With frequent typhoons and torrential rains, steep terrains and rivers, the rainfalls rapidly gather in the river channels and the middle and downstream stages rise quickly, causing floods and disasters.
To reduce flood disasters, the Water Resources Agency, MOEA, took measures that suit local circumstances to execute flood mitigation, and established flood and drought forecasts and emergency measures system to reduce the calamity and loss. Moreover, to build a high quality water environment, the Water Resources Agency will base on the “ecological river management?idea to protect lives and properties of people, promote co-existence and co-prosperity of “people,?“water?and “environment,?and create an innovative water resource business.
Flood mitigation constructions cannot depart from the human-environment relationship. Respect the Nature can we maintain the space for human existence. We need new ideas and use new technologies to break through the limitation of Nature. No matter it is hardware or software, the balance between “economic development,?“environmental protection?and “social justice?should be obtained. We hope our country, society and the project itself can all march towards the fair road of sustainable development, truly accomplishing the new Taiwan water resource prospect of “respecting the Nature, utilizing the water and benefiting the people?