A new device combining pollution detection and wireless technology will be used around the nation to catch factories that illegally discharge wastewater, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said.
EPA officials showed off the NT$100,000 device yesterday, saying that it would be an efficient tool in detecting the discharge of untreated wastewater.
Bureau of Water Quality Protection director-general Leu Horng-guang (
The new device, however, connects to offsite detection equipment that can compile data on the level of pH, temperature, electric conductivity for water and other measures in suspect locations.
"If any parameter shows abnormal levels [in these variables], the device, facilitated with wireless communication technology, can communicate not only with EPA control centers but also the cellphones of environmental inspectors," Leu said.
Leu said that environmental inspection was time-consuming and inefficient. In the past, only 3.2 percent of cases investigated involved illegal pollution. Last year, however, a pilot study with the new device sharply increased that figure to 35 percent.
Last year, environmental inspectors used five of the devices at several industrial zones in Taoyuan County which had been identified as having high potential for illegal pollution. Forty factories were investigated because of the data obtained.
Fourteen factories in the recycling, electroplating, printing and dyeing industries were fined after investigations were completed.
Leu said that the EPA was hoping to introduce the technology to the environmental bureaus in each local jurisdiction to improve efficiency in the inspection of water pollution.
EPA officials said that the device could operate for seven days on batteries and was easily concealed.
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