The Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs has announced a water rationing plan in an attempt to combat a serious drought in central Taiwan.

In a meeting between the MOEC and the Water Resources Agency on Wednesday, the MOEC stated that Taiwan is currently going through the biggest drought it has faced in 56 years, with several reservoirs across central Taiwan running dangerously low.

In order to combat this, starting from April 6th, citizens living in the municipalities of Miaoli, Taichung and Changhua will have to face a water supply cut for two days every week.

The MOEC has since released a statement splitting households into two zones based on location, one where the water supply will be cut on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and the other where water will be suspended on Thursdays and Fridays. Industrial water users will also have to face a 15% cut on their water supply.

Lu Shiowyen, the mayor of Taichung, said: “Even though it has been raining more recently, the rainfall we have now is still not enough for our city to maintain a stable supply of water. The city government has already made thorough preparations to help our citizens during this water rationing.”

Despite reassurances from the government that daily life will not be severely affected by the water supply cut, many citizens have expressed their concerns about not having access to enough drinking water or lacking the water supply to shower and clean up with.

Hardware stores in Taichung have seen an increase of almost 80% in the number of people purchasing large water pails, and many other stores are facing a growing demand for the sales of bottled water.

Wang Meihua, the Minister of Economic Affairs, said: “We are preparing for the worst. We hope that by introducing this plan, our people can still continue with their lives and our industries will still have enough water to produce and manufacture.”

The government has also announced that it will be working with the Taiwan Water Corporation to set up a total 338 temporary water stations across Taichung for people who may not have time to store enough water prior to the supply cut. In addition, there will also be 55 of these water stations in Miaoli and 45 in Changhua.