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.
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
NOT AN OPENING: Trump’s violation of international law does not affect China’s consideration in attacking Taiwan; Beijing lacks capability, not precedent, an official said Taiwanese officials see the US’ capture of the president of Venezuela as a powerful deterrent to Beijing’s aggression and a timely reminder of the US’ ability to defeat militaries equipped with Chinese-made weapons. The strikes that toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro signaled to authoritarian leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), US President Donald Trump’s willingness to use military might for international affairs core to US interests, one senior official in Taipei’s security circle said. That reassured Taiwan, the person said. Taipei has also dismissed the idea that Trump’s apparent violation of international law could embolden Beijing, said the official, who was not
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
Snow this morning fell on Alishan for the first time in seven years, as a strong continental cold air mass sent temperatures plunging across Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The Alishan weather station, located at an elevation of about 2,200m in central Taiwan, recorded snowfall from 8:55am to 9:15am, when the temperature dropped to about 1°C, the CWA said. With increased moisture and low temperatures in the high-altitude Alishan area, the conditions were favorable for snow, CWA forecaster Tsai Yi-chi (蔡伊其) said. The last time snow fell at the Alishan weather station was on Jan. 10, 2018, while graupel fell there