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Wetland project flourishes

Council of Labor Affairs Chairperson Chen Chu, right, on a recent visit to the wetland. PHOTO: CODY YIU, TAIPEI TIMES

Chen Hsiu-hsia (陳秀暇) has been a housewife for a large portion of her life. She is 50 years old and has five grandchildren. Chen's husband has been plagued by illness for a long time and is unable to work.

In order to pay for living expenses, Chen babysits. Chen, along with other individuals from low-income families, also turned to her village chief for financial help.

Fortunately for Chen, earlier this year, Tainan City's Vocational Training Center was hiring individuals to work on a wetland project and told her she would be paid by the Council of Labor Affairs' job development program.

This program aims to help the unemployed and the underprivileged. The wetland project is a green community development program in Chen's hometown, Er-Hsin village in Tainan.

Chen's job was to take care of plants on a wetland, where the waste water discharged from 80 households in Er-Hsin village was purified using a specialized ecological recycling system. The water is then utilized to water the plants.

Starting April 1, Chen and her co-workers work eight hours a day and 22 days a month, for NT$95 an hour.

"By working here, not only do I receive a steady income, but also get exercise while I work," Chen said.

The wetland project was begun in 1990, led by Jing Shu-ren (荊樹人) of the department of environmental engineering and health at Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science.

The university is located in Ren-te village, where the tributaries of the Er-ren Stream were heavily polluted due to waste discharged from nearby pig farms. The stream also flowed through deserted farms, which caused more pollution to the water.

Jing came up with the wetland project to recycle the polluted water. The purification system consists of two stages: the first is using the earth's surface filtering system to remove to break up the waste; the second stage is utilizing water plants which feed on organic waste material to carry out the purification.

The wetland in Er-hsin village was established in October 2001 on a piece deserted farm land. The cooperation between Jing's team and residents of the village enabled the community to turn the wasteland into an arboretum.

Soong Ching-shu (宋金樹), the coordinator of the project, indicated that within a two-year period more than 30 species of plants have been grown on the land, of which 12 types were used to purify and recycle polluted water.

Of course, taking care of the 1800m2 green land is no easy job.

"Every morning, I will assign tasks to Chen and her co-workers so that they know what to do," said Soong.

Examples of tasks include pruning trees and burying outgrown plants. Chen and her co-workers did not have any prior gardening experience, and Soong invited members of the Green Thumb Club to train them.

Thanks to the effort of the trio, the 1800m2 wetland was turned into a more beautiful mini-forest.

The wetland is a popular destination for school children and college students who major in environment-related subjects.

Furthermore, ecology and environmental professionals from numerous offices of the Bureau of Environmental Protection also frequent the wetland, as they want to learn the operation and technicality of the wetland to run a similar project in their own areas.

This project is classified as a societal project under the CLA's job training program.

A societal project is one that focuses on community building instead of making a profit. The community is not yet planning to switch over to an economical project.

"Our goal is to hire only Er-hsin village residents and to build a beautiful community that we are proud of, as well as to promote environmental awareness around the country," Soong said.
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