Taliao residents say their water threatens health

Residents of Taliao township (大寮), Kaohsiung County, yesterday complained to Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) officials, saying that contaminated groundwater and illegal dumping had been threatening the health of residents for years.

Environmental administration head Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday inspected a toxic well in Chaoming village (昭明村) in Taliao and a highly controversial illegal waste dump at nearby Red Shrimp Hill (紅蝦山).

Residents and local officials complained about the environmental agency's carelessness in taking emergency measures to deal with the illegal dump.

"The site was reported two years ago, but the EPA did not list it as one of the most dangerous dumps until this January," said Hsieh Chi-yen (謝季燕), director of Kaohsiung County's Bureau of Environmental Protection.

Hsieh told Hau that residents could do nothing because dishonest waste handlers used by more than 20 chemical firms from northern Taiwan usually dumped hazardous industrial waste secretly, in the middle of the night.

Environmental agency officials have discovered diverse toxic chemicals including toluene (甲苯) and ethylene (乙烯), which leaked from broken barrels buried at the site. The local environmental bureau will outline a project for removing waste and cleaning up the site by June 10.

When Hau inspected a toxic well contaminated by high levels of trichloroethylene (TCE, 三氯乙烯), a female resident complained to him about the situation.

The woman, in her thirties, said that she could not tolerate the worsening environment.

On March 15, Kaohsiung County government posted a warning sign officially banning the use of well water because TCE has been confirmed as a carcinogen.

EPA officials also warned residents living within 2km of the well not to drink the groundwater, which may also have been polluted.

"The warning really bothers us because we haven't drank tap water for years," Chang-chien ying-wan (張簡應萬), Chaoming village warden, told the Taipei Times.

Chang-chien also added that thousands of residents suspect that the smelly tap water is actually only fit for industrial use.

"[For] more than 10 years, we've only drank groundwater," said Chang-chien.

Chairman of the Taliao Farmers' Association, Chang-chien Jiu-hsiung (張簡久雄) told the Taipei Times that the EPA should have examined all wells nearby to ensure residents' health was not endangered.

Hau said he realized that illegal dumping in Kaohsiung County was more serious than in any other place and he would consider all complaints carefully.

"Problems caused by illegal dumping will be solved soon because the EPA plans to establish three final repositories for hazardous waste in the north, the center and the south," Hau said.