At the turn of the millennium, the head of the Environmental Protection Administration told me that he couldn't figure out why the bosses of some plants that produce chemicals that have toxic effects preferred to spend tremendous sums of money secretly digging illegal wells to dump polluted waste water into at night, rather than spend the same amount of money to build waste water treatment plants.
For decades, the industrial waste from myriad light and heavy industries -- heavy metals and chemical compounds, organic and inorganic toxins -- have been polluting the nation.
Regrettably, the few cases of illegal waste disposal that have been exposed are only the tip of the iceberg. Oftentimes, nothing can be done other than leaving the public to foot the bill.
The problems have originated from the decades spent under a political system that is structurally prone to corruption. No administration can shirk its responsibility on this issue.
There is a kind of great love that is a deep part of us all. It transcends space and time and cares for all living things. It is known as environmental protection, but it might also be called benevolent governance.
The water catchment area of the Wushantou Reservoir (烏山頭水庫) in Tainan County's Tungshan Township (東山) had its status as a protected area removed in 2001. After that, the results of an environmental appraisal permitted industrial waste to be buried in two nearby areas.
This prompted the "Save Wushantou Reservoir Movement" led by residents and environmental groups. They suspected that burying more than 1,000 tonnes of toxic waste a day in the 27 hectare area would damage the reservoir and threaten the safety of people using the reservoir's water. And because a wetland area surrounds the sites, the groups realized that there were major flaws in the environmental appraisal. They called for the government to close down the two sites.
These dumping sites were different from the many illegal sites the public doesn't even know about. These two sites were established with the blessing of the law.
This raises some serious concerns about the decisions our authorities are making.
Extremely toxic chemical waste causes long-lasting damage. If it is concentrated near a reservoir or other source of water, it is essentially a ticking time bomb. No matter how good the protective measures are, the danger is unacceptably high that it will seep out gradually or enter water sources during the heavy rains this country often experiences.
The public is very concerned and the government cannot ignore that. It must therefore perform a detailed, on-site report on the flow of underground water. While the investigation is in progress, it should issue an order to halt the use of these questionable locations for waste disposal.
The reality of industrial waste is this: it is what is left after a process that has already yielded the desired product and brought the company profits. Users and polluters should pay most of the cost of the damage they cause. By that token, we cannot let these businesses leave their debt in the earth as a likely disastrous burden for coming generations.
National laws on environmental protection are obviously deficient and "environmental justice" has become nothing but an illusion. Nevertheless, our responsibility to future generations should inspire us to reconsider how we should modify the central and local governments to do their job more effectively.
The administrative system must be drastically improved, past mistakes investigated and a plan must be laid out to realize the goal of true benevolent governance.
The majority of environmental protection organizations are devoted to the good of society and are part of the soul of the nation.
The country is transforming very fast at all levels of society, but progress on environmental issues -- essentially questions of fairness and justice -- is slow in coming. With many environmentalists based in Tainan, we can hope that Tainan will be the spark that overthrows the outdated system and pushes us into a new age of benevolent governance.
Chen Yueh-fong is a professor at the department of ecology at Providence University
Translated by Marc Langer
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