Having doubled in frequency in recent years, heavy rains wash away large amounts of soil and silt from the mountain slopes, not only causing serious siltation in the main dams in Taiwan, but also affecting their water storage capacity and service life and imposing long-term water shortage risks in the future. Moreover, when the scours enter the catchment areas, they may cause eutrophication, thus deteriorating the quality of raw water and successively increasing the costs of water purification and sludge treatment and shooting up the risks in algal poisoning in the water purification plants. Those are the phenomena that may cause many uncertainties in water resources for people's livelihood and industrial uses.

The above-mentioned water conservation needs include the management of water quality and quantity of lakes and reservoir systems such as dams and artificial lakes, as well as the operation linkage with downstream tap water systems and simple tap water systems, which are critical to the stability of water supply in Taiwan. That is why how to monitor the water level and water quality to adjust the operation mechanism of water storage and release has gathered many highly specialized divisions of labor. After half a century of modern water conservancy construction in Taiwan, the public sector has accumulated a wealth of engineering and management experience, which will also drive a complete industrial supply chain and provide integrated services. At present, several important water supply areas, including the Feitsui Dam, the Shihmen Dam, the Liyutan Dam, the Zengwen Dam and so on, have established monitoring and control systems between the dam management units and tap water agencies to make water conservation more in place and improve the stability of water supply.

Given the fact that dams and catchment areas are usually located in remote mountainous areas, the accuracy and immediacy of patrol manpower and survey data are often an issue of concern. Many manufacturers taking part in this exhibition are professional organizations able to provide overall solutions, because they have been working hard on dam conservation and sustainable water management for a long time. For example, the Sinotech Engineering Consultants Co., Ltd., the largest civil engineering consultant in Taiwan, has assisted the Water Resources Agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs in building up a platform, through which a variety of real-time information on the conservation and governance of dams and catchment areas in Taiwan can be grasped so as to stabilize the water quality of dams, reduce daily inspection manpower and increase the accuracy of decision-making. The Stantec Environmental Technologies Taiwan Ltd. has developed an IoT system for simple tap water systems installed in remote mountainous areas, which can remotely detect the real-time tap water conditions and adjust the treatment efficiency, thus reducing the need for local communities to invest in operating manpower. The quality and quantity query system for tap water protection zones developed by the GeoSense Technology Co., Ltd. can quickly show the status of the conservation areas around the dams, so that the maintenance projects can be implemented without affecting the dam conservation areas, making the soil and water conservation more effective. National Cheng Kung University will exhibit its "Smart Identification System in conjunction with Immune Fast Screening Technology", which uses the molecular biological monitoring technology to find out the risky toxins and key elements released by harmful algae like Microcystis and to detect multiple chemical and biological indicators to ensure the safety of water supply, especially for smaller dams, where the control of algal poisoning is even more important.

Countries all over the world are currently facing short-term heavy rainfall, which affects not only the conservation of water and soil in the catchment areas, but also the quality of raw water, making it even more difficult to control the quality of tap water. It is thus expected that the market for water conservation will continue to grow, attracting further investment from the water resources management units in various countries. Compared with the water purification facilities that require huge amounts of investment money, the solutions for sustainable water resources developed by Taiwanese industries through precise water conservation management, integration of information technology and advanced inspection technology, Taiwan’s experience and technology should be able to provide those countries in need with more cost-competitive solutions, making their water resources more sustainable.