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Treatment plants ensure Kaohsiung's water quality

The completion of three watertreatment plants in Kaohsiung will ensure millions of residents quality drinking water, ending a decades-long nightmare caused by river pollution, according to the Kaohsiung City Government.

Operation at the three plants, completed last month, will be officially launched next week.

Yesterday, the city's Environmental Protection Bureau Director Chang Feng-teng (張豐藤) sampled water at outlets of the Taiwan Water Supply Corp's Seventh District Management Department. Results suggest that the chloride level in tap water is 0.47ppm, turbidity is 0.02 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Units) and hardness, or the amount of calcium carbonate, is 143 ppm. The test on trihalomethanes was negative.

Comparing to statistics pertaining to water quality monitored in the last nine months, officials said, the quality has improved. Past statistics suggest that average turbidity was 0.21 NTU, while the average level of trihalomethanes was 0.036ppm.

Chang said the unsatisfactory quality of tap water in the past could be attributed to excessive chloride added to disinfect raw water. This measure made tap water in Kaohsiung hard. Past records show that the chloride level in tap water stood at 0.9ppm and hardness between 150ppm and 293ppm.

To convince residents of the improved water quality, Chang and other officials yesterday drank tap water after boiling it in advance.

The bureau's random inspection of tap water at 59 sampling points will be carried out continuously. Chang said that this was necessary to provide residents with details about where their water comes from, what it contains and how it compares to national standards.

The quality of tap water in Kaohsiung now meets national regulations.

Because of illegal dumping and pig farms upstream along the Kaoping River, which supply water to millions of residents in Kaohsiung city and county, poor water quality had been a threat to their health for decades.

Especially since the discovery in July 2000 that toxic solvents were illegally being dumped in the Chishan River, which flows into Kaoping River, most residents had complained about the water's chemical odor and used it only for rinsing.

Most residents buy cleaner spring water, which is transferred by vendors from mountains in neighboring Pingtung County, for drinking and cooking.

In the past three years, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) relocated 470,000 pigs raised on farms along the Kaoping River, effectively cutting excrement pollutants discharged from farms.

Meanwhile, in order to ensure the quality of raw water, the central government budgeted NT$15 billion to have intake points moved upstream and build three advanced treatment plants.

The improvement in the quality of tap water in Kaohsiung paid off, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said to supporters four years ago while campaigning for the 2000 presidential election.

On Tuesday, Chen tried a cup of water, which was brought by Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) from Kaohsiung, in front of the media to show his confidence in the achievement.

However, city environmental officials yesterday called for regular cleanups of standpipes every three to six months to avoid possible contamination or quality deterioration.
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