Waterworks in Taiwan

Waterworks (水道) in Taiwan are the piped drinking water systems first built during the Japanese colonial era, as distinct from the much older irrigation canals that water its farmland. To improve public health in towns and ports, the Government-General engaged William K. Burton (巴爾頓) as its sanitary engineering adviser and began construction at Tamsui (淡水) in 1896, and by 1941 there were 157 systems across the island. After the war these remained local operations until 128 of them were consolidated into the provincial Taiwan Water Corporation (台灣自來水公司) between 1974 and 1976, while Taipei is still served by its own Taipei Water Department (臺北自來水事業處).