TAIPEI, Aug 20 (Aljazeera) – Every year on May 8, the Japanese engineer Hatta Yochi is honoured as a deity for overseeing the construction of the Wushantou Reservoir and the Chianan Irrigation Canal that transformed Taiwanese agriculture a century ago by allowing the government to store and transport rainwater.

This year, however, as incense and flowers were left at a statute of Hatta at Wushantou, his beloved reservoir was at half capacity while others like it fell as low as 10 to 15 percent as Taiwan faced one of its worst droughts ever.

As an island, Taiwan is dependent on the annual typhoon season to bring enough rainwater to meet its domestic and industrial needs, but it was forced to scramble after a typhoon failed to hit last year for the first time in decades, worsened by limited rainfall.

Domestic water use was rationed while thousands of trucks transported water to supply its lucrative semiconductor industry, angering farmers because much of that water had been earmarked for them.

While Taiwan’s reservoirs were eventually refilled after heavy rain – so much so that it led to flooding in the south – experts have said the island’s recent troubles are just a taste of what is to come with climate change.

“What seems to be happening in Taiwan is the severity of drought is increasing. It’s not just that they are getting less rain, it’s that they are incredibly dry for longer period of times, so they are now in situation where they have to look at solutions like those in countries that have traditionally have issues with water supply,” said Nneka Chike-obi, a director of sustainable finance at Fitch Ratings.

Typhoons meet about half of Taiwan’s annual water needs, but they will be less reliable as climate change has already begun to affect not only their pathway across the Asia Pacific, but also their intensity, according to a groundbreaking report released this month by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).