EPA insists that Taipei tap water is not polluted

The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday released the latest analysis on the quality of raw water being pumped into a water-purification plant, reassuring residents in Taipei City and Taipei County that their tap water is safe. Residents who reported pollution, however, still expressed their doubts.

"After analyzing samples of raw water that we collected near the plant, the quality meets national standards," said Wu Sheng-jong (吳盛忠), head of the EPA's North Region Branch Inspection Bureau, at a press conference yesterday.

Wu said that residents have no reason to worry about the quality of their tap water.

On Monday, local television reports suggested that water supplies near the Chihtan Purification Plant (直潭淨水廠) were polluted by sludge and rotten garbage and might pose a threat to the area's tap water.

The plant treats raw water channeled from a section of the Hsintien River (新店溪), which is supplied by the Feitsui Reservoir (翡翠水庫). The section is between the Chingtan Dam (青潭水壩) and the Chihtan Dam (直潭大壩).

Last September, residents living near the purification plant discovered that the section of the river was polluted by sludge discharged by the plant and rotten garbage from a nearby closed municipal landfill.

One of the residents, Huang Hsien-jung (黃顯榮), reported the pollution to the Hsintien City Administrative Office under the Taipei County Government but the pollution was not dealt with until this March.

In March EPA officials issued a ticket to the plant, demanding an improvement by May 15. EPA officials said yesterday that a field investigation conducted on Monday found no sludge discharged by the plant.

Garbage floating near the intakes of the plant, EPA officials said, was from the nearby Shenchangpan Landfill (伸丈板垃圾場), which covers 180,000m2 and is about five stories high. The landfill, which was operated by the city administrative office, was shut down five years ago after it filled up.

Garbage at the landfill, EPA officials said, was flushed away by heavy rains brought by Typhoon Nari last September.

Wu said that the floating garbage has been collected and sent to another operating municipal landfill in Taipei County.

"We don't think the Shenchangpan Landfill would be a threat to the quality of tap water suppling residents in Taipei City and Taipei County," Wu said.

Residents who called attention to the pollution, however, doubted the EPA's words of reassurance.

"We residents are not satisfied with the way EPA officials acted during the field investigation on May 20 because they neglected rotten garbage hidden in the bushes alongside the river," Huang told the Taipei Times.

Huang, 52, said that environmental deterioration in recent years has worried hundreds of residents living near the landfill. Huang claims that garbage continues to flow into the river, saying that the closed landfill is obviously a threat.