The central government announced Wednesday it will enforce new water restrictions in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, next week following a lack of rain in the region.

Starting March 8, the water alert level for Kaohsiung will be raised from green to yellow, meaning that water pressure will be reduced during off-peak hours (between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m), according to an announcement from the Central Emergency Operation Center, activated Wednesday, after its first working meeting.

Kaohsiung has been placed on green alert level, indicating that water-storage levels are below normal.

Under Taiwan’s four-tier water alert system, green is the lowest level and often used to inform the public about the possibility of water shortages.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs in mid-February placed Tainan on an orange alert, the second-highest level and Chiayi on a yellow alert, from March 1.

Under an orange alert, industrial, commercial and residential customers in designated areas could see a reduction in the amount of water supplied.

The government is strictly controlling the water supply from reservoirs in southern Taiwan in an effort to combat looming water shortages after minimal rainfall in the south of Taiwan since last year.

The MOEA is coordinating with the Water Resources Agency, the Water Corp. and the local government to take water shortage alleviation measures.

These have included strengthening balanced distribution of regional water resources, drilling at least 54 additional wells, and improving the processing capacity of existing water purification plants, in a bid to boost daily water supply by 136,000 tonnes by the end of April, according to the center.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel