EPA head vows to improve water, air in the south

The head of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday vowed to improve the environment in southern Taiwan, saying that the agency has listed improving the quality of air and drinking water as priorities.

Hau gave a public speech in Kaohsiung yesterday under the invitation of a development promotion association and the Kaohsiung City Government.

The Executive Yuan approved in June 1995 a policy to make Kaohsiung a center for manufacturing and sea transportation.

To strengthen transportation and storage facilities, the land surrounding Kaohsiung Harbor was then also designated as a base for the Kaohsiung Multi-Functional Commerce & Trade Park (高雄多功能經貿園區).

Kaohsiung City Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said before Hau's speech that he would like to give consideration to both environmental protection and industrial development.

"Our determination to promote environmental protection and economic development at the same time will never be changed," Hsieh said.

Hau echoed Hsieh's idea, saying that environmental policies should be carried out based on a balance of economic development and environmental protection.

Hau said in his speech that the EPA had focused on deteriorating air quality in the Kaohsiung metropolitan area, including part of Pingtung County.

Hau said that the number of days of bad air quality in the area had been more than twice that of the average level of the nation's cities since 1996.

According to the EPA, air quality was bad during 16.1 percent of the days in 1996, and during 10.7 percent of the days last year.

In Kaohsiung, emissions from cars, factories and coal-fired power plants are responsible for the release of pollutants into the air, resulting in bad air quality.

"In addition, we discovered that the ozone pollution in the area is especially worrisome," Hau said.

Hau said that the EPA would make efforts to reduce sources of particle and ozone pollution by taking measures such as restraining the discharge of volatile organic chemicals, the cleaning of streets. The EPA will also carry out environmental inspection more strictly. A limit will also be set on the discharge of air pollutants.

Hau said that the EPA had focused on improving the river water quality of the Kaoping River (高屏溪), one of the main suppliers of drinking water to residents in the Kaohsiung metropolitan area.

The river is notorious for its pollutedness, resulting from the discharge of pig and duck excrement from adjoining farms and the secret dumping of hazardous industrial waste.

Hau said that the relocation of pig farms along the river to somewhere else would be completed by the end of this year.