TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Though the Taiwan Water Corporation announced at midnight on Monday (Jan. 9) that it had restored access to "around 95%" of all Taoyuan households affected by a pipe burst on Saturday (Jan. 7), residents across the city’s south have continued to complain about having no water.

On Saturday, an underground pipe connecting the Shimen Dam to the Pingzhen Water Treatment Plant burst at a water pumping station. The Pingzhen Water Treatment Plant provides water to eight districts in southern Taoyuan that encompass about a third of the city’s population, while 335,776 households were affected by the incident.

Aside from reports of injuries and flooded homes, many Taoyuan citizens were also left with no access to water until the pipe was fixed. The Taiwan Water Corporation had originally promised to restore services by 7 a.m. Sunday (Jan. 8), but later announced that it would not be able to do so until Monday at midnight, much to its clients’ displeasure.

According to the company’s District 2 office, it had begun delivering water as early as Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m., and by Monday midnight, only households in elevated locations, near pipes’ ends, and with internal pipe issues continued not to have access to water. However, almost immediately after it made the announcement, residents in Dayuan, Pingzhen, Zhongli, and Yangmei commented that they still had no water.

Facebook user Chang Hao-hsuan (張浩宣), who was the first to report not having water in Dayuan, complained about the Taiwan Water Corporation’s lack of transparency. “Which areas are considered elevated or near pipes’ end? Can your company provide more detailed information? Your promises keep falling through… I know emergency repairs are a difficult task, but isn’t providing the public with more information your company’s responsibility?”

Reports about not having water continued throughout the night. Commenters worried that they would not be able to make it to work and complained that no one at the Taiwan Water Corporation was picking up the phone despite having a 24-hour customer service line.

At around 9 a.m., the District 2 office posted an update stating that as of 6 a.m., it had restored water access to 99% of south Taoyuan households. Nonetheless, at the time of publishing, commenters continued to report not having water.

Taoyuan citizens have also directed their frustration toward newly-elected Mayor Simon Chang (張善政), who, after learning about the postponed access restoration timeline, wrote that the long delay was “unacceptable.” They accused him of not feeling their pain and attempting to shirk responsibility, demanding a clear timeline of when water access would be restored.