Residents from Greater Kaohsiung’s Cishan District (旗山), accompanied by Citizens of the Earth, Taiwan (地球公民基金會, CET), and a legislator, yesterday accused the government of passing the buck on dealing with the illegal dumping of furnace slag within a protected area.
At the Legislative Yuan yesterday morning, they said Dalin Borough (大林) of Cishan is designated as a protected source of tap water, yet they had discovered that furnace slag from China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼) had been dumped across four to five hectares of farmland in the area since May last year.
Cishan Respect and Caring Education Foundation chairperson Wang Chung-yi (王中義) said that ever since the farmland was dumped with furnace slag, water in the nearby pond had turned a royal blue color, the fish had died and the pH level was tested at 12, leaving many residents afraid to plant crops near the site.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Local self-help association chairperson Cheng Miao-jen (鄭妙珍) said petitions filed with the Water Resources Agency, Environmental Protection Administration, Council of Agriculture and other agencies were met with claims that there were no problems with water quality.
However, no one dares to drink water or eat crops grown from the site, Cheng said.
Wang said that the local environmental protection bureau claims that furnace slag is classed as a “product,” rather than “industrial waste” that is monitored by the bureau.
He said other government agencies have kept passing the buck, unwilling to deal with the pollution problem.
Tainan Community University Research and Development Association director Huang Huan-chang (黃煥彰) said furnace slag is not a product and when it is dumped at inappropriate sites, it should be considered waste.
The 300,000 tonnes of furnace slag dumped at the site contains about 66,000 tonnes of iron and 125,000 tonnes of calcium oxide that can contaminate the nearby water, he said, adding that if the sources of tap water cannot be protected, then the future of Taiwan’s water will be in doubt.
They urged the government to remove the furnace slag and return clean farmland to the local residents.
A section chief of the council said its on-site inspection had confirmed the pH level to be above 12, and because furnace slag should not be dumped on farmland, it also asked the local agency to fine the company.
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