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EPA takes aim at water quality

The government is determined to improve water quality and educate the public about water pollution, and it is ready to spend big money to achieve these goals, officials from the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday.

Starting this year, the EPA will allocate more than NT$200 million (US$6.16 million) over the next four years to improve water quality at the nation's four major reservoirs -- Tsengwen Reservoir (曾文水庫), Shihmen Reservoir (石門水庫), Feitsui Reservoir (翡翠水庫) and Jingmen Reservoir (金門水庫) -- Department of Water Quality Protection section chief Wei Wen-yi (魏文宜) said at a press conference.

Those four reservoirs provide water to 9.5 million people, she said.

"Pollution in reservoirs comes from point sources and non-point sources," Wei said.

Point sources are specific producers of waste, such as household kitchens and bathrooms, restaurants and factories. Non-point pollution refers to rainwater that flows into reservoirs after passing crop plantations and roads and picking up pollution along the way.

Citing Taipei's Feitsui as an example, Wei said the reservoir provides water to 5 million businesses and households, but more than 70 percent of its pollution comes from non-point sources.

"Most of the non-point sources polluting the reservoir are agricultural," water quality department Director-General Leu Horng-guang (呂鴻光) said.

While the EPA's water protection efforts have previously focused on "downstream" strategies that target point sources, the administration has decided to refocus on upstream strategies, he said.

In renewing its efforts to fight water pollution, the EPA commissioned third-party agencies to analyze the main sources of pollution at the four reservoirs, Leu said.

The EPA has since drawn up plans to reduce non-point pollution by creating grass swales, buffer strips and wetlands around agricultural plantations.

In addition to investing in buffers to cut down on pollutants entering drinking water, the administration plans to educate farmers on how to reduce agricultural pollution, he said.

"We have printed free booklets to distribute to farmers near the reservoirs, with tips on how to help protect the environment, such as using only the minimum amount of fertilizers necessary, building low embankments around their plantations and switching to organic fertilizers," he said.
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