Officials from the state-run Taiwan Water Corp yesterday condemned a group of Tainan environmentalists for saying chemical pollutants, including a cancer-causing agent, had been found in underground water supplies near a Tainan-area reservoir.
The remarks came after officials from the Tainan branch of the non-profit Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU) said on Monday that according to a previously unpublished investigation undertaken by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), underground water from four of twelve wells in areas surrounding Wushantou Reservoir (烏山頭水庫) tested positive for chemicals ranging from chloromethane to arsenic, citing documents obtained by the organization.
Calling the group’s comments “unprofessional and biased,” and blaming it for causing panic among residents, company president Chen Fu-tien (陳福田), speaking alongside EPA Deputy Director Chang Tzi-chin (張子敬), said that the reservoir’s water stores were completely safe because the company did not source its water from underground supplies.
Chen said that the main source of water for Wushantou Reservoir was run-off water from nearby hydro-generating plants in the Zengwun Reservoir (曾文水庫).
The TEPU said on Monday that eight of the 20m to 30m deep wells investigated were 0.5km upriver, while the other four were in the reservoir’s immediate vicinity.
Three of the samples tested positive for chloromethane, a heavily flammable toxic chemical, while traces of toluene and arsenic were also found.
However, it was unclear if the pollutant levels exceeded EPA regulations. The agency sets standards for water in reservoirs and for drinking water that are different from standards for groundwater.
While the TEPU compared pollutant levels against the strict criteria set for drinking and reservoir supplies, EPA officials said that the sampled water sources were instead regulated as normal underground water supplies.
There is a large discrepency between the two. The maximum amount of toluene allowed in drinking water is 1mL per liter compared to 10mL per liter for normal groundwater. Similarly, chloromethane levels are 0.03mL per liter and 0.3mL per liter respectively.
Using the agency’s standards for groundwater, none of the chemical levels exceed regulations except for arsenic, which was sampled at 0.0565mg per liter, higher than the 0.05mg per liter groundwater standard and the 0.005mg per liter drinking water standard.
Sources at the agency confirmed that the findings were the result from an investigation undertaken by the agency in November. The results were only published yesterday evening in response to queries by reporters.
TEPU officials said yesterday that they were uncertain how the non-naturally occurring pollutants entered the water supply. However, they said that according to local citrus farmers in the area, heavy-duty trucks had been seen trawling up narrow roads in the past three months.
Cheng Hsiu-ju (鄭秀如), a TEPU official that worked on the investigation, said residents suspected that a local landfill operator — the only known user of heavy-duty trucks in the area — was illegally dumping waste into the water.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
RSS