20-Year Water Resource Battle: Plans for Meinong Reservoir and Gaoping Great Lake Revived, Residents Take Overnight Train North to Protest

Rushing through the night on a tour bus, it heads steadily north; my head spins and my eyes glaze over as I watch the night scene...
My younger brother, who makes a living in the city, tells me: what reservoir? Meinong will become a big gold vault.

20 years ago, Meinong Hakka golden melody singer Lin Sheng-xiang wrote this song, "Night Bus," on a bus protesting the construction of a reservoir in Meinong; 20 years later, the people of Meinong still have to board this "Night Bus" to protest this haunting "ghost reservoir."

At 12 midnight on the 14th of 2015, a large bus carrying 40 people set out from quiet Meinong. On board were a group of farmers over 65 years old, from the first generation of opponents of the Meinong Reservoir, along with members of the Meinong Homeland Association, the Citizens of the Earth Foundation, and the Chunghwa Telecom Labor Union. Early that morning they gathered with Meinong natives from Taipei in front of the Qunxian Building at the Legislative Yuan. They had endured the hard overnight trip north in order to oppose the revival of the old "Meinong Reservoir" proposal, re-raised on the 7th by Kuomintang legislator Huang Chao-shun, and the Gaoping Great Lake development plan.

Even though the Meinong Reservoir had already been decided against during the Chen Shui-bian administration, it keeps being brought up again whenever there is a water shortage, and residents worry that this wave of pro-reservoir public opinion will shift toward supporting the construction of the "Gaoping Great Lake," which would seriously affect Kaohsiung's groundwater supply and force farmers off their land. The Ministry of Economic Affairs will conduct a poll of all Kaohsiung residents in June to decide whether to adopt the Gaoping Great Lake development as an alternative to the Meinong Reservoir. Meinong residents regard this as a "violent vote" and firmly oppose it. Water Resources Agency Director-General Yang Wei-fu, when accepting the public petition, guaranteed that without local consensus, no budget would be allocated for reservoir construction.

Lin Sheng-xiang, composer and singer of "Night Bus," lamented that times have changed, and he never imagined he would still have to stand up now to oppose the Great Lake; his heart was filled with mixed feelings.

Water Resources Agency Director-General Guarantees No Budget Without Consensus

Regarding the various controversies over the current construction of the Gaoping Great Lake, Water Resources Agency Director-General Yang Wei-fu said the construction plan would be carefully evaluated, especially the multi-source water supply proposals advocated by the public; he said every plan has advantages and disadvantages, but "all are worth considering."

At the same time, he also promised today that "before there is public consensus, absolutely no construction budget will be allocated." Public briefings will be held extensively next month to strengthen communication with the public, and participating citizens will absolutely be welcome to record video and post it online. He also guaranteed that the policy on whether or not to build the Great Lake would absolutely have "policy continuity" and would not change because of any individual's term of office.

In response, Qiu Jing-hui said she hoped the government, after comprehensive consideration and a determination not to build, would fully implement this commitment; and Democratic Progressive Party legislators Qiu Yi-ying and Su Zhen-ching, who were present, both said they would continue in their capacity as elected representatives to supervise the administrative agencies. As for the "using a poll to decide whether to build or not" that the Homeland Association opposes, Yang Wei-fu said a poll is only a reference tool, so the June poll will still be conducted, but no hasty action will be taken based on the poll alone.

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