A Greater Taichung resident, backed by legislators and environmentalists, brought his complaint about alleged groundwater lead contamination from a new parking lot to officials in Taipei yesterday.
A man, surnamed Chu (邱), from Kuohsing Community, Cingshuei District (清水), held a press conference to highlights residents’ complaint that a newly built parking lot made from the recycled bottom ash from incinerators was the source of contamination.
He said residents became angry when farmland was turned into a 6,000m2 parking lot in April, because the lot gave off a bad odor.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau took samples of the dirt and groundwater in May after receiving complaints from residents, he said.
In early July, the bureau sent a document to the borough chief that said the groundwater was contaminated by lead and that people should avoid drinking it.
Later that month, the Construction Bureau told the community residents to avoid any contact with the contaminated groundwater, Chu said, while a document from the Economic Development Bureau last month said residents should apply for tap-water service.
“There are about 100 households in the neighborhood, but only one household has applied for tap water,” Chu said.
Most of the farmers cannot afford tap water, he said.
Showing pictures of the parking lot and nearby rice farms, Taiwan Academy of Ecology secretary-general Tsai Chih-hao (蔡智豪) said the groundwater, which residents relied upon for household use and farm irrigation, had been contaminated with lead levels exceeding the Environmental Protection Administration’s (EPA) standard of 0.05mg/liter for drinking water.
Lead contamination of 0.075mg/liter and 0.056mg/liter was detected in groundwater from two of the eight wells in the neighborhood, and groundwater from the well closer to the parking lot had a higher amount of lead, Tsai said.
Tsai called upon the government to investigate the source of the pollutant instead of simply urging residents to avoid the contaminated groundwater.
Tainan Community University Research and Development Association director Huang Huan-chang (黃煥彰) questioned the legitimacy of the farmland being turned into a parking lot, one reportedly filled with incinerator bottom ash. Huang said EPA regulations clearly state that recycled bottom ash cannot be used near water intake points for drinking water.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) said lead poisoning can harm children’s brains and nervous systems, and such a case could be just the tip of the iceberg. If these problems are neglected, then pollution problems, or even bottom ash containing dioxin, could eventually affect the entire country, she said.
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