"Last July, when the Tsengwen Reservoir only had 20 MCM left, the government grew very nervous and was about to announce a set-aside program for farmers," says Wu. But the association said it would be better to wait a few more days in case a typhoon came, to avoid both harming farmers and having to pay NT $ 1 billion in compensation out of government coffers.
「去年七月初因為曾文水庫只剩下二千萬噸水，政府十分緊張，計畫要宣布休耕，」吳玉土說，但水利會認為，颱風很可能說來就來，應該再等幾天，否則一旦休耕，動輒付出十多億元補償費，會造成政府和農民雙輸。