City government, Tienmu residents clash over creek

Huang Creek (磺溪), a tributary of the Keelung River that runs through Tienmu and Shihlin, has been dubbed by locals as Taipei City's last green waterway, given its rich natural ecology and biodiversity.

Many Tienmu residents are concerned about whether the Taipei City Government's Bureau of Public Works flood-prevention project will damage the ecology of Huang Creek

According to the bureau, flood-prevention work on Huang Creek, approximately 2.8km long, is part of the city government's Keelung River dredging project.

Huang Creek's flood-prevention work, according to Lo Jyhun-sheng (羅俊昇), director of the division of Construction Maintenance under the bureau, includes a project to raise the creek's 7m high embankment to 9.2m as well as other relevant construction such as adding cement onto the base of the embankment and building floodways along Huang Creek to keep the creek from overflowing.

Beauty Hsu (徐美女), convener of the Tsaoshan Ecological Alliance (草山生態文史聯盟) -- which is made up of concerned Tienmu residents -- said that the city government's flood-prevention work on Huang Creek has put the creek's ecology in jeopardy.

"The fact that steel and cement are being built into the river bed is turning Huang Creek from a natural beauty into a big gutter full of dead water," Hsu said.

Cheng Kuang-yen (鄭光炎), associate professor at the Civil Engineering Department of the National Taipei University of Technology, said that "such an act, without a doubt, will upset the natural ecological status of the creek."

Tienmu residents have other complaints.

"We were not well-informed when the city government first started its project on the creek," Hsu told the Taipei Times.

"It grabbed our attention only when we noticed that one day the trees along the creek had disappeared because the city government was working on the embankment."

"Many of us have seen workers felling the trees," Hsu said.

Criticizing the plans to lay cement on river bed and build floodways along the Huang Creek, Hsu said that alliance members had met numerous times with city officials since last April to voice their dissatisfaction as well as offer alternative flood-prevention suggestions that were more environmentally friendly.

"But all were in vain," Hsu said. "City officials told us that all the work had been planned and scheduled according to administrative procedure."

Explaining the division's position, Lo said that since Huang Creek is a part of Keelung River, the flood-prevention work has to follow the guidelines and standards set for the city government's Keelung River dredging project.

"The plans to heighten embankment walls were set by the dredging project even though local residents argued that such measures were not needed," Lo said.

Aside from stressing that the trees were removed to facilitate the construction of the embankment and that they would be replanted after the construction is finished, Lo explained that adding cement at the base of the embankment walls would strengthen the base.

Floodways along Huang Creek are needed to help ease the pressure of the river and to funnel floodwater when heavy rains hit, otherwise the river would be simply too narrow to hold the waters, Lo said.

While the work continues on Huang Creek's downstream section, Lo said that work on the up-stream area has been halted until the city government can reach a consensus with the residents.