Irrigation in Taiwan

Irrigation in Taiwan began with privately financed canals and ponds (埤圳), among them Babao Canal (八堡圳) and Liugong Canal (瑠公圳), which Han settlers built during the Qing dynasty to water their rice fields. The Japanese colonial government brought these works under official supervision with the Public Canal Regulations (臺灣公共埤圳規則) of 1901, placed them under regional irrigation associations (水利組合) in the 1920s, and built new systems such as the Chianan Irrigation System (嘉南大圳). After the war these bodies became the Irrigation Associations (農田水利會), which the state absorbed into the Irrigation Agency (農田水利署) in 2020, so that irrigation has remained administratively separate from the waterworks that supply drinking water to towns and cities.