About 35 percent of cisterns inspected by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) in three major urban centers have been declared substandard because they cannot sustain the quality of tap water in residential zones, officials said yesterday.
According to Ho Soon-ching (何舜琴), director-general of the EPA's Bureau of Environmental Sanitation and Toxic Chemical Control, tap water is available to 90.9 percent of people around the country and 99.4 percent of people in the Taipei metropolitan area. More than 99 percent of tap water supplied to residential areas conforms to national standards.
However, cisterns in many buildings in urban areas offer ideal breeding grounds for germs that threaten public health, Ho said yesterday at a press conference.
According to the EPA survey, in which cisterns in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung were inspected, 35 percent failed to meet national standards for tap water. At the same time, 9 percent contained more than the permitted amount of bacteria and colon bacillus.
"Ideally, cisterns need to be cleaned every three months. For those in basements, a comprehensive and thorough disinfection is necessary after flooding takes place," Ho said.
To ensure public health, the EPA this year will begin to target schools and hospitals, offering assistance in maintaining cisterns.
EPA officials said that large cisterns need to be maintained carefully because chlorine added to tap water for disinfection purposes evaporates easily.
The EPA said it would offer schools and hospitals free reagents to assess the levels of chlorine remaining in their cisterns. Household users will be offered a similar service from next year.
Meanwhile, the Taipei Water Department is encouraging people to clean their cisterns this week because water reserves in Feitsui Reservoir were returning to normal levels. The level had reached 80 percent of capacity and there was no need to worry about rationing in the near future, officials said.
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