Taiwan’s Penghu county magistrate, Chen Kuang-fu, has urged central government to back the county’s proposed expansion of its desalination capacity.
Chen appealed for Penghu’s planned desalination expansion to be included in the national government’s programme to improve water supplies in Taiwan’s outlying islands for next year.
Penghu has signed contracts for construction of a 40 Ml/d desalination plant which is expected to be completed in May 2018. The planned expansion would up the capacity by another 6 Ml/d to enable the county to reduce its use of ground water.
Legislator Yang Yao warned that groundwater should not be used as an everyday water source, and water supply issues affect plans by businesses to invest in the county.