Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan)

06/16/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/16/2021 00:30

Turning Crisis into Opportunity: Taiwan-Israeli Cooperation on Drought-Combating Seawater Desalination Technology

Taiwan is currently experiencing the worst drought in 56 years, but the two seawater desalting plants in Hsinchu and Taichung are helping in this emergency. Aiming for introducing cutting-edge water treatment know-how and enhancing stability of water supply, today (May 31st), Water Resources Agency (WRA), holds a video conference on intergovernmental water resources exchange with Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei (ISECO) and Israel Water Authority (IWA), during which the three parties discuss topics about domestic water resources utilization and desalination initiatives.

The video conference is co-hosted by Dr. Chien-Hsin Lai, Director-General of WRA, and Giora Shaham, Director-General of IWA along with the full participation of Representative Omer Caspi of ISECO and Mr. Tslil Lavav, head of Israel Economic Trade Mission in Taipei, and is expected to turn over a new page for intergovernmental cooperation on water resources between Taiwan and Israel.

Director-general Lai, in his opening remarks, states that, in order to enhance the adaptation capacity under climate change, WRA is committed to advance a range of water resources management strategies, from regional dispatching, diversification of water supply systems, activation of reservoirs, to drought-combating measures like reuse of treated water and building of desalination plants. Director-General Shaham talks about successful factors of water resources administration in Israel, attributing to keeping balance of demand and supply, metering all water supplied, pricing water that reflects costs of resources exploitation and services, along with the very important independence of the Israel Water Administration. The status of independent agency is considerably advantageous to national administration of water resources in Israel.

Desalinated water is unaffected by periodic high flow and dry spell and can stabilize water supply. On this occasion of drought, WRA installs emergency seawater desalination units in Hsinchu and Taichung. The units in Hsinchu produce 13,000 tons of water a day within a time frame of 100 days; same level is achieved within 51 days in Taichung, and further leveled up to 15,000 tons a day. Desalination does play its relief role this time. Furthermore, WRA plans to build desalination plants of over 100,000 tons in Hsinchu and Tainan as a priority to increase stability and resilience of regional water supply.

Israel has been leading the advances in water treatment and desalination technology and has rich experience applying in fields. The environmental impact of reverse osmosis reject is a critical concern in Taiwan. Such concern is relieved with the long-term monitoring data shared by Israel. The continuous exchange between Taiwan and Israel has been for over 10 years. For many times, WRA invites Israeli officials and hydrotechnics experts for technical exchange, and receives active participation in relevant projects by Israel. For example, the 100k-ton desalination units in progress of Formosa Plastics Corporation in Mailiao are acquired from IDE Technologies.

The current intergovernmental water resources exchange conference between Taiwan and Israel focuses on exchange in depth of utilization of water resources and desalination-related planning and technical applications in Taiwan. Among the many participants from organizations, multidisciplinary experts and researchers, the attendees from Taiwan, led by Director-general Lai, WRA, in addition to chiefs of departments and divisions of WRA, and heads of regional Water Resources Offices, also include Mr. Liao Hao-chih, Director General of Department of International Cooperation, MOEA, Mr. Luo Tian-Jiann, Director of Department of Planning, Public Construction Commission of Executive Yuan, and Mr. Lee Tin-Lai, Chief Engineer, Taiwan Water Corporation; the attendees from Israel consist of Representative Omer Caspi of Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei, Mr. Tslil Lavav, head of Israel Economic Mission in Taipei, Director-General Giora Shaham of Israel Water Authority and affiliated desalination unit/legal counsel. Active discussion is seen in the conference and further visits between both parties after subsidence of coronavirus pandemic are expected by both parties.

Spokesperson: Yi-Fung Wang, Deputy Director-General, Water Resources Agency
e-mail: [email protected]
Office: (02)37073011 Mobile: 0933-012183
Contact: Chun-Ling Kuo, Director of Planning Division, Water Resources Agency
e-mail: [email protected]
Office: (02)37073030 Mobile: 0988-312411
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