After a year with no typhoons, Taiwan is currently experiencing its worst drought in more than half a century. Reservoirs revealed their eerie secrets as the water level receded: bridges, schools, and even whole abandoned villages were uncovered. As of April, the worst-hit areas of Taichung and Miaoli Counties have been put on “Red Alert,”…
Taiwan is the world’s rainiest developed country, but an insufficient storage system is forcing big users to consider desalination of seawater as a viable water source. The Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) recently won Environmental Impact Assessment approval for a desalination plant to produce fresh water from seawater at its Mailiao industrial complex in Yunlin. The…
PREVAILING WINDS — The maps chart seasonal prevailing winds in East Asia. The map on the left shows the winter winds coming south off of the Korean Peninsula, which eventually hit Taiwan from the east. Located in Asia’s wet subtropical zone, Taiwan receives 2.6 times more rainfall than the global average – yet it is…
