Related to this suggestion: a few years ago, at one of the annual industry and commerce fairs in Okinawa, a company presented a type of urinal that would not require any water for flushing and yet not release any odor. No chemicals had to be used to achieve that, either: their design involved a “plug” of a special oil that would always float on top of the liquid in the appropriately shaped drain.[/quote]
I’LL bear it in mind (sump oil should work, though its a pollutant) if I’m ever REALLY short of flush water, but I can’t see that situation arising, since, unless one stops washing altogether, there is always waste water available.
As well as requiring a much lower flush volume than a WC, some of which is “automatically” generated by hand-washing/teeth cleaning etc, the WHB urinal has the advantage that waste water doesn’t make it scummy (or you can’t see it if it does). This isn’t the case when using waste water in the WC.
Never had an odour problem, though I’d guess you would if you didn’t “flush” promptly.
There are two possible reasons for this that i can think of right now: there is no standing water in it, and you most likely wipe/clean it (even if casually) more frequently than you would wipe any other urinal you might use…
About the no-water urinal:
I think it is a device that is primarily meant for public places, and i recall talking with one of the guys at the stand about the oil (or maybe i should say “oil” because i don’t know what kind of liquid it is, chemically speaking), and that is apparently not of a polluting variety (they not only want to save water but be all around eco-friendly with that design). For personal/family use i’d think a composting toilet would be a much more low-tech and thus more affordable choice.
About the (hopefully) drought-ending plum rain’s work today:
Today’s rain appears to have had it’s peak in the mountains of Kaohsiung County, with part of the adjacent counties also getting drenched (cwb.gov.tw/eng/observe/rainfall/hk.htm) - no idea yet how much of that can/will be captured by reservoirs, but we’ll probably get some figures in the news before long. The front has moved off the island for now, but it may return before long and bring more rain when it sweeps back north again.
Are there any numbers on the water reqd for squat toilets vs western toilets? I’m not sure if it’s just the ferocity of the flush but they seem to use a lot of water. But of course they don’t refill the bowl so they probably are better.
Does Taiwan have any regs on water per flush toilets? I know these (lower consumption toilets) were made mandatory in the US 15-20 yrs ago. And in Hong Kong there are #1 and #2 levers with differing levels of water use for toilets.
If you look at the matter from an engineering point of view, it is possible to make valves that allow you to adjust the duration of the flush and the amount per second flowing.
If you look at the matter from other points of view: politics, the market situation, costs, education, etc., i think the same kind of considerations would apply as those i started talking about in this post: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=98572&start=158
I don’t know anything about regulations - anybody else? Some people i know in Hualien have a two-button (low/high) flush toilet (i have used that toilet more than once, so i know for sure ), which means that equipment of that sort was or is available in Taiwan, too.
May 18 and 19:
According to the CWB rainfall map for May 18, a small part of northern Kaohsiung County (mountain area close to where it borders on Hualien County and Taitung County) saw rainfall of up to 50mm, and adjacent areas showed rainfall of les than 40mm. In the early morning of May 19 the front had moved to the southern tip of the island, where a small amount of rain fell. But during the day the front moved north again and reached Miaoli and Keelung by 8pm. As a result of the front returning it also rained in central Taiwan, with a peak of the rainfall in western Nantou County, at less than 30mm.
Good news, most likely: CWB reports decent rainfal in central Taiwan for Sunday and in western central Taiwan for Monday -
see cwb.gov.tw/eng/observe/rainfall/hk.htm? and check “The day before yesterday” and “Yesterday”…
In Okinawa the plum rain has been officially declared over (2 weeks earlier than average), while many parts of Taiwan have seen rain in the last two days - thanks to moist southerly winds related to the tropical storm that is currently (at the time of writing) southwest of Taiwan. The southwestern areas, however, have seen very little rain so far - perhaps the situation will have changed by the time the typhoon reaches the mainland coast.
Last weekend, i met up with a few friends of mine (from Kaohsiung and Okinawa) in Pingdong county, and while visiting some people who live “in the bush” not far from Kenting, we went off road and crossed a river in one location: we simply drove through the river, since there was very little water flowing - not an encouraging sight at the end of a plum rain season.
At least in Kaohsiung the rainfall for April and may was not too much below the long-term average. But June does not look very good until now. The mini typhoon has passed - farther to the south than initially expected - and all Taiwan got from it, it seems, was some rain in Kenting and Taitung on Monday…
At least in Kaohsiung the rainfall for April and may was not too much below the long-term average. But June does not look very good until now. The mini typhoon has passed - farther to the south than initially expected - and all Taiwan got from it, it seems, was some rain in Kending and Taidong on Monday…[/quote]
I’m not sure where you get your data but April and May were both less than half of the normal for Kaohsiung. And June was dreadfully low (65mm for the first 20 days vs an average of 415mm for a typical June).
But it’s also been raining for the last 5 hrs in Kaohsiung.
Glad you caught my sloppy expression! I have been accused of being sensational about this, so i tried to use a cautious expression, but i agree is not good enough. The rainfall in April was 42% of the average and in May 53%, which is not “close to the average” but at best “closer to the average” when compared to the three months before that…
The exact data from the CWB are these:
30-year average （1981-2010）: April 69.8mm / May 197.4
2011: April 29.5mm / May 106mm
Yeah, and June has been pitiful until now… any recent update in the news, about the reservoir situation?
Glad you caught my sloppy expression! I have been accused of being sensational about this, so i tried to use a cautious expression, but I agree is not good enough. The rainfall in April was 42% of the average and in May 53%, which is not “close to the average” but at best “closer to the average” when compared to the three months before that…
The exact data from the CWB are these:
30-year average （1981-2010）: April 69.8mm / May 197.4
2011: April 29.5mm / May 106mm
Yeah, and June has been pitiful until now… any recent update in the news, about the reservoir situation?[/quote]
I bolded the following because for 5 months (Nov-March) you can effectively consider the rainfall amount = 0mm. And it’s been mentioned elsewhere but drought is the wrong word to use. Permanent water shortage except immediately following the typhoon months.
Glad you caught my sloppy expression! I have been accused of being sensational about this, so i tried to use a cautious expression, but I agree is not good enough. The rainfall in April was 42% of the average and in May 53%, which is not “close to the average” but at best “closer to the average” when compared to the three months before that…
The exact data from the CWB are these:
30-year average （1981-2010）: April 69.8mm / May 197.4
2011: April 29.5mm / May 106mm
Yeah, and June has been pitiful until now… any recent update in the news, about the reservoir situation?[/quote]
I bolded the following because for 5 months (Nov-March) you can effectively consider the rainfall amount = 0mm.[/quote]
Yeah, i seem to recall now that i wrote about that some weeks ago - in my recent comment, where i mention 3 months, i only thought of “this year”.
That is at least debatable, if not incorrect, as that other thread clearly shows. But as i mentioned in that other thread, as well, i am quite happy to use some other appropriate technical term - i did not make up the expression “drought”: that is what the Taiwanese newspapers did when they translated the commonly used Mandarin term.
Sounds fine with me… and i’d call that kind of situation “drought”, but nevermind…
I guess I think of a drought as not occurring on a yearly basis. Every year Kaohsiung (and southern taiwan) has 5-6 months where it essentially gets 0mm of rain all winter. And every year it has a short monsoonal period followed be several typhoons or tropical storms.
Right, i see what you mean - my use of the word “drought” when talking about southwestern Taiwan was/is actually not based on the dryer part of the annual pattern of dryer and wetter seasons but the overall decrease of rainfall over several years, which has recently meant that the dryer season has been bone dry - anyway, all that can be found in detail in that other thread…
Ten years years later here in 2021 about the same time of the year another dry year. Nearby Southern Japan is having floods, one nearby place too much rain and Taiwan very little another odd ball year.
My flat says they will start cutting water supply from Monday 10pm to Thursday 6am. Is this really a 2 days and a half without water ? Or is it a bad translation for saying they will cut water every night from Monday to Thursday ?
Anyone has news about it ? I think it is the same everywhere in Taichung region
It’s currently pouring rain in downtown Taipei, and there were at least three days last week with heavy afternoon rains. Have the drought-affected areas of Taiwan experienced similar rains recently?
Kaohsiung has been mostly dry for a few weeks, couple of drops here and there. I don’t think I’ve seen a single downpour in all the time I’ve been here (I arrived in early March).
