An abnormal change in tap water quality was found at Greater Kaohsiung’s Gaoping River (高屏溪) yesterday with a marked bad odor, leading Taiwan Water Corp (TWC) to announce a sudden shutdown of the water supply, affecting 12,000 households.
The move also affected another 20,000 households whose water pressure dropped.
The incident yesterday was the third time this year, after incidents in January and last month, in which water from the Gaoping River Weir was found with sudden increased levels of total organic carbon (TOC), resulting in emergency water supply shutdowns in areas of Greater Kaohsiung.
Although the bureau at the time suspected the reason to be water contamination, the source of the pollution was not found.
Chuang Mao-sheng (莊茂勝), deputy manager of the TWC’s Seventh Branch, said the corporation detected the abnormality at 5:30am yesterday and the water’s bad odor level was measured at 20, so it immediately established an emergency response center and decided to shut off the water supply and reduce pressure from 1pm yesterday to 11am today, to ensure safe water quality.
The areas that faced the temporary shutdowns included Renwu (仁武), Dashe (大社), Zuoying (左營), Fengshan (鳳山) and Chishan (赤山).
The corporation said it reported the case to the police and government agencies to increase monitoring of the area, he added.
Greater Kaohsiung Environmental Protection Bureau Director-General Derek Chen (陳金德) said inspectors did not find any abnormalities when they checked the site after receiving the report, and inspectors suspected that the cause of the abnormality may be humus from the dry season being washed into the river by rain.
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
RSS