Fujian to pipe water to Taiwan's Kinmen island

Fujian province will actively work with Taiwan's Kinmen county to tackle the county's ongoing water supply shortage and quality problems, a top provincial official said.

When visiting the county's Tienpu Reservoir on Friday, the head of Fujian province, You Quan, said the province is ready to embark on the construction of a pipeline that will bring fresh water to the county.

Kinmen, an island a few kilometers off Xiamen, is the last stop on You's five-day trip to Taiwan aimed at enhancing cross-Straits relations.

It is known to be short of freshwater resources, with a percapita annual supply of only 167.9 cubic meters.

According to the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Fujian provincial government, the government has been hoping to supply water to Kinmen since 1995. After years of research and negotiation, the two sides reached a consensus last year on details such as the amount of water to be supplied and the specifications of a pipeline.

According to the proposal, water would be transported from Longhu Lake in Jinjiang, Fujian province, to the city's Weitou village and then to Tienpu Reservoir.

Water to Kinmen would be transported 26 kilometers by pipeline, of which about 13 km would be underwater. The total cost is projected to be about 300 million yuan ($48 million). It would supply 20,000 cubic meters of water per day.

Liu Diqiang, an engineer with the Jinjiang water authority, which is involved in the water supply project, said initially another route was considered starting from Dadeng Island in Xiamen.

"That route was initially preferable because water supplies there would be more plentiful, taken directly from the Jiulong River," Liu said.

But last year, experts from Kinmen conducted field research and tested source water at different points of origin. The Longhu-Weitou-Tienpu route was subsequently selected because the quality of water from Longhu Lake was shown to be better, Liu said.

Wang Teng-wei, president of Kinmen Waterworks, which is in charge of the county's water supply, said the county is expected to face a daily water shortage of 20,000 cubic meters by 2016.

"We are happy that Fujian could help deal with the water shortage problem and hope the construction will be launched soon," Wang said.

The province's office for Taiwan affairs said the project is now awaiting final approval, and the two sides will hold further talks to sign the contract as soon as possible.

Contact the writer at sunli@chinadaily.com.cn