As Taiwan’s climate has become more extreme in recent years, all sectors in the country have been committed to the development of water reclamation and treatment technology with the aspiration to reduce pollution to the environment while increasing the value of reclaimed water as a resource. The Water Resources Bureau of Taichung City Government also launched the “Shuinan Water Resource Recycling Center Effluents Recycling and Reuse Plan”, and, upon signing the water use agreement with Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP; subordinated to National Science and Technology Council, formerly known as the Ministry of Science and Technology), AUO Corporation, CTSP Branch of Lien Fung Precision Technology Development Co., Ltd. And Air Liquide Far Eastern Ltd. Last March, the tender process for this project also came to an end as the Bureau has signed an agreement with the best applicant. It is expected that, in two years, about 10,000 tons of reclaimed water will be supplied to Shuinan Economic and Trade Park daily and, by that time, Shuinan Water Resource Recycling Center will be transformed into an urban water reservoir.
Director of Water Resources Bureau Fan Shi-yi pointed out that, to optimize the applicability of public infrastructure projects in terms of the government investment schedule, the Shuinan project was carried out as a paid Build-Transfer-Operate (BTO) Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project. That is, the infrastructure is invested in and built by a private company and the government pays the construction fee to obtain the ownership thereof and commissions that private company to run the operations of the infrastructure. At the end of the BTO contract period, the right to operate will be returned to the government. In this project, the company (the best applicant) is expected to invest about NT$530 million and the PPP period is 17 years. The overall scale of this project is about NT$2.3 billion and it is the first reclaimed water project launched in cooperation with the high-technology industry in Central Taiwan. At the moment, the tender process has been completed by signing an agreement with the best applicant, which is Pei Shui Wu Co., Ltd., and the construction will begin this year.
The Water Resources Bureau expressed that AUO and other companies from the high-tech industry had a high demand for high-quality water. As the Shuinan Water Resource Recycling Center adopts the Membrane Bio-Reactor (MBR) process in combination with the anaerobic-oxic (AO) process, the quality of its effluent is guaranteed to be high quality. In this project, it is planned that the effluent of the center will be transmitted to the future reclaimed water plant, which is located in the north of Shuinan Economic and Trade Park, through the Shuinan Economic and Trade Park’s existing reclaimed water pipes. Then, with the preprocessing and reverse osmosis (RO) systems, the effluent will be further treated to ensure its compliance with the industry’s required quality before being supplied to high-tech companies to alleviate their risk of water shortage.
The Water Resources Bureau further pointed out that reclaimed water could not only be used as a substitute for traditional water source or a backup water source, but also be considered a life-saving resource for industries suffering from drought and temperamental rainfall. With an annual turnover of more than a trillion, CTSP is the bellwether for economic growth in Central Taiwan and is still growing. “Shuinan Water Resource Recycling Center Effluents Recycling and Reuse Plan” is a new paradigm with active cooperation of the government and industry to make them both winners. It is hoped that in two years this project will be completed with fruitful results and turn sewage water into real blue gold. (3/11*13)*Water Resources Bureau
Contact person: Mr. Chen, Sewage Facilities Division, Water Resources Bureau, Taichung City Government
Contact No.: 04-22289111 Ext.53654