Taiwan to revise law to expand the use of reclaimed water 
On March 29, 2022, the Third Reading of the Legislative Yuan of Taiwan passed the amendments of partial articles to the “Reclaimed Water Resources Development Act”. Under the current provisions, only the businesses located in “a region with the likelihood of undersupply of water resources” shall be required to use a certain percentage of reclaimed water, while in this amendment, the provision for the limitation of region was deleted. It means that all the businesses, which are subject to submit Water Consumption Plan, shall follow the requirements for the water consumption plan to use a certain percentage of reclaimed water. The effective date of the amendment has not been specified yet. According to the Water Resources Agency, Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan, a subordinate law will be formulated to stipulate the percentage of reclaimed water to be used based on the characteristics of industries and other factors.
Explanation of related terms
Related terms defined in the “Reclaimed Water Resources Development Act” and its subordinate laws are as follows.
- Reclaimed water: it refers to the water that can be reused through the treatment of wastewater (sewage) or effluent (wastewater or sewage that can be discharged to water bodies after treatment). Based on the differences of the water to be treated, reclaimed water can be divided into reclaimed water from the sewer system and reclaimed water not from the sewer system.
- Reclaimed water from the sewer system: it refers to the water that can be reused through treatment of wastewater (sewage) or effluent water collected from the sewer systems.
- Reclaimed water not from the sewer system: it refers to the water that can be reused through treatment of wastewater (sewage) or effluent water not collected from the sewer systems.
- A region with likelihood of undersupply of water resources: it refers to the region where it is judged and announced that the water demand cannot be met by the amount of water can be possibly suppled in the target year, based on the considerations by the central component authority such as demand and supply analysis for each region subject to Regional Water Resources Master Plan, including discussions on water resources development situation, overall water source adjustment measures, development potential of systemic reclaimed water, and other relevant factors.
Businesses subject to regulation
According to the Article 4 of the revised Act, businesses required to submit Water Consumption Plan will be required to use a certain percentage of systemic reclaimed water. More specifically, according to the Water Resource Act and its subordinate laws, when daily water consumption reaches 300m3 or more, the businesses need to submit the Water Consumption Plan. The above-mentioned regulated businesses have to use a certain percentage of reclaimed water from the sewer system based on the Water Consumption Plan approved by the central component authority.
For the original text of the above contents, please refer to the following URL (in Traditional Chinese).
https://www.wra.gov.tw/News_Content.aspx?n=6430&sms=9122&s=101357
