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City learns to love its water

With the completion of water treatment plants in Kaohsiung City, scheduled to open on Sunday, the city government should ensure that the quality of water is maintained and the public is educated about water conservation, environmentalists in the city said yesterday.

Kaohsiung residents have had to put up with appalling water quality for decades and it would take a great deal of effort to create confidence in the water system, activists of the Kaohsiung-based Conservation Mothers Foundation (環保媽媽環境保護基金會) said.

"We can't call the water quality improvement project a success until the street water vendors have disappeared," said Julia Chou (周春娣), president of the foundation.

Last week, the city's Environmental Protection Bureau Director Chang Feng-teng (張豐藤) called for regular cleanups of cisterns every three to six months to prevent contamination.

However, Chou said the government should provide environmental service companies with training programs on cleaning cisterns.

To set an example to residents in treasuring clean tap water, Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) will clean cisterns together on Friday.

Illegal dumping and pig farms along the Kaoping River, which supplies water to millions of residents in Kaohsiung city and county, had made Kaohsiung tap water notorious for its smell.

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 complained about the water's chemical odor and used it only for rinsing and cleaning.

Most residents buy spring water, which is drawn from the mountains in neighboring Pingtung County, for drinking and cooking.

To improve the quality of tap water in Kaohsiung, the central government budgeted NT$15 billion in 2001 to have intake points in Kaoping River moved upstream and to build three advanced treatment plants. President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will open the new plants on Sunday.

Beginning next year, Taiwan Water Supply Corp (TWSC) will spend NT$5 billion annually on replacing old, leaking water pipes and aqueducts in Kaohsiung to further ensure water quality.

However, the public will also have to pay for the improvement in water quality.

According to Yang Shui-yuan (楊水源), manager of TWSC's Seventh District Management Department, a rise in water prices is inevitable because of the adoption of advanced technologies to treat water. He estimated that a rise of one-third would be reasonable.

Ozone, a powerful oxidizer similar to chlorine, is used at these advanced water treatment plants to disinfect water. Officials said that ozone prevents chemical residual from being left in the water.

On Saturday, first lady Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) will make tea for the public in Kaohsiung to demonstrate the quality of the tap water.
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