Zhonghe Ruisi Reservoir Introduction
The Zhonghe area was originally inhabited by Indigenous peoples until the sixth year of the Qianlong Emperor's reign (1741), when Han migrants from Fujian and Guangdong came to Taiwan to cultivate the land, marking the first recorded settlements of Han Chinese. After the Japanese took control of Taiwan in 1895, to improve water quality and meet the needs of the "Shanben Coal Mine" in the Hsien-shan area, construction of the Banqiao Waterworks began in the third year of the Shōwa era (1928) and was put into operation the following year. The Ruisi Water Treatment Plant, established in the fourth year of the Shōwa era (1929), was built in the Ruisi Highlands as a boundary point for water delivery and distribution. Subsequently, with the construction of Banqiao Station, the area underwent rapid development, resulting in a significant influx of population. The Japanese authorities planned to expand the Banqiao Waterworks in the sixteenth year of the Shōwa era (1941), but this was halted due to the outbreak of the Pacific War. After the end of Japanese rule, the waterworks system was damaged during the war, leading to a sharp decrease in water supply. The government planned renovations and expansions, during which the waterworks system established during the Japanese occupation gradually ceased to exist. By the fifty-second year of the Republic (1963), water was sourced from the Xindian River, gradually replacing groundwater, and by the sixty-third year of the Republic (1974), surface water from the Dahan River was adopted as the supply source, completing the water supply system in the Banqiao area, with groundwater completely phased out. Among the remnants of the waterworks from the Japanese era, only the Ruisi Water Treatment Plant remains well-preserved. This water treatment plant has functioned since the Japanese occupation, with its water source provided from the current Yonghe Water Source Road outlet, linking the development of the two areas and serving as a significant relic in the modernization of waterworks.
