EPA pledges crackdown

Future efforts to clean up Taiwan's polluted rivers will primarily be concentrated in the southern part of the country -- especially the Kaoping (高屏), Erjen (二仁) and Chiangchun rivers (將軍) -- the head of the Environmental Protection Administration said yesterday.

Lin Jun-yi (林俊義), the administration's chief, said yesterday that the central government was prepared to spend more than NT$12.59 million to treat Kaoping River, and promised that the effort would be one of many to come.

In addition, Lin said a crackdown on illegal smelters along the Erjen would be conducted jointly by the EPA, local governments and the Ministry of Justice. Furthermore, the EPA has earmarked extra manpower to oversee the project, including environmental police officers and inspectors.

Lin spoke yesterday during a tour of the Erjen River, organized for the benefit of local officials and the media. Lin said that the polluted Kaoping River was just one of many examples of Taiwan's long-term negligence damaging treasured natural resources.

But the 65km Erjen River -- which runs through Tainan and Kaohsiung counties -- is an even worse example, the environmental official said.

Smelters and scrap plants have discharged hazardous chemical solvents into the river for more than two decades. According to the EPA, industrial waste and animal husbandry make up 39 percent of total pollutants found in the river while household waste accounts for the remainder.

From the Wukung bridge (五空橋) -- where the Erjen is met by one of its chief tributaries, Sanyehkung Creek (三爺宮溪) -- an unbearable odor hangs in the air.

Tainan County Commissioner Mark Chen (陳唐山) said that the government had clamped down on illegal plants three times in the past, but the efforts encountered fierce resistance.

Lin vowed to close the 55 smelters that discharge into the Erjen within six months.

The environmental official said the Waste Disposal Act passed last year would make polluters' lives tougher -- illegal smelters and waste handlers could face punishment if any individual is injured or killed as a result of their activities.

But at a public forum to discuss the Erjen River, local environmentalists questioned Lin's resolve.

"Based on previous experience, too much financial resources for treating polluted rivers has been spent on unnecessary construction projects such as embankments," said Tseng Lung-yung (曾瀧永).

When it comes to protecting the Erjen River, Tseng said government officials should be thinking about sustainable development.

Chen Chuh-yung (陳志勇), a chemical engineering professor at National Cheng Kung University, said environmental officials should cut pollution off at its source.

"The priority should be to block the flow of the polluted river to nearby fishponds and rice fields, because toxic chemicals might work their way into the human body through the food chain," Chen said.

Fishermen said the polluted Erjen River was also spilling over into coastal waters, potentially causing problems there.

"We've been worried by the number of illegal waste dumps near the mouth of the river," said Wang Ren-chien (王壬謙), from the Tainan City Fishery Resources Conservation Association (台南市漁業資源保育協會).

Yet another worry is a planned industrial park in Tainan County, which could cause untreated wastewater to flow into nearby waterways and affect the estuary.