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Feitsui reservoir's water quality is deteriorating

The quality of water in the Feitsui Reservoir, which supplies drinking water to 4 million people in the greater Taipei area, has shown signs of deterioration, the Environmental Protection Ad-ministration (EPA) said in a report released on Monday.

The EPA said the TSI of the water in the reservoir has risen from 40.9 in 1993 to 46.3 in recent years. The TSI is an index widely used to measure water quality. The quality of water is considered good if its TSI is 40 or less. Water with a TSI of 50 or more is considered contaminated.

The EPA's monthly measurements have shown that the TSI of the water in the Feitsui Reservoir exceeded 50 nine times in the last five years. The EPA said farmland, market places, barren land and landslides are sources of water pollutants. Feitsui reservoir's catchment area has 2,018 hectares of polluting areas, of which 78 percent is in Pinling village.

The EPA released the report after a majority of people in Pin-ling decided in a referendum a few weeks ago to ask the government to add an interchange to a new highway that goes through the village. The decision was rejected by the EPA for environmental-protection reasons.
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