Department of Cultural Affairs

Grass Mountain Waterworks

During the Mudan Village Incident of 1871, when Japanese forces first made inroads on Taiwanese soil, and the Japanese occupation of the Penghu Islands during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, Japanese officials and soldiers suffered heavy losses from infectious diseases. Therefore, soon after Japan gained control of Taiwan in 1895, its colonial administration made great efforts to institute a public health system, a tap water system and a sewage system, in order to ensure the health of Japanese nationals living on the island.
The Taipei Waterworks System was completed in 1909, providing the predominantly Japanese districts of Taipei with tap water. Later, as the population of Taipei City rose, the volume of tap water became increasingly insufficient, and construction of the Grass Mountain Waterworks commenced in 1928. It could deliver 28,800 cubic meters of water per day, meeting the needs of 150,000 people. As the waterworks originated in the Yangming Mountains, the construction team had to overcome difficult terrain and many obstructions, making the project far more complicated than the Taipei Waterworks, headquartered in the Gongguan area.
The main facilities of the Grass Mountain Waterworks included a pumping well, aqueducts, adjustment wells, connection wells, a water main, a hydroelectric power plant and a storage reservoir. The black water main is still visible today running alongside an old stone-stepped path in Tianmu.