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EPA steps halve damage to badly polluted rivers

The length of river sections classified as seriously polluted was nearly cut in half last year, due to efforts to expose hidden pipes discharging industrial pollutants, water purification engineering and volunteer patrols, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said.

EPA statistics released yesterday suggest that the length of badly polluted rivers decreased from 15.8 percent of the total in 2003 to 7.6 percent last year. That means that out of 50 rivers with a total length of 2,904km, 220km of the rivers are seriously polluted.

In the last four years, the EPA has spent more than NT$2.2 billion (US$69.7 million) treating rivers. In terms of the river pollution index (RPI), which is used by environmental analysts to compare and evaluate the degree of water pollution in rivers, rivers can be classified into four categories. A river is considered seriously polluted when its RPI exceeds 6.

Leu Horng-guang (呂鴻光), director-general of the EPA's Bureau of Water Quality Protection, said that the EPA had launched a long-term river treatment project in 2002, and that several polluted rivers had already received significant treatment.

In 2003, the most polluted waterways were the Peigang River (北港溪), which straddles Chiayi and Yunlin counties, and the Erjen River (二仁溪), which runs mostly through Tainan and Kaohsiung counties. The entire length of both rivers was at that time considered seriously polluted. However, the percentage of the two rivers considered badly polluted has been cut to just 57 percent and 54.1 percent.

"For years, the EPA has focused on ... rivers of which the seriously-polluted section exceeds 40 percent of the river's total length," Leu said. "Due to our efforts, the number of such rivers has decreased from seven in 2000 to four last year."

Leu said that the EPA had completed more than 30 small environmental projects aiming to purify polluted river water. Meanwhile, the creation of artificial wetlands in certain rivers also purifies water, further ensuring biodiversity in the rivers' ecosystems.
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