An environmental impact assessment (EIA) ad hoc meeting yesterday approved an amended proposal to build the Hsinchi Industrial Park (新吉工業區) in Greater Tainan, with the local government reasserting its promise of zero wastewater discharge.
The industrial park development project was first proposed by the then-Tainan City government more than 10 years ago.
The Taiwan Water Conservation Alliance said after civic groups had voiced their concern over wastewater from the industrial park possibly damaging the nearby Sihcao Wetland (四草濕地), farmland and the fishing industry, Greater Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) promised that the park would not discharge any wastewater, but it feared that the promise would not be fulfilled.
Alliance member Jennifer Nien (粘麗玉) said the local government’s amended proposal says that it will implement stricter wastewater treatment technology — reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration — but that it was only enforcing weaker wastewater discharge standards, so the alliance had urged the EIA committee members to review the proposal more strictly.
A representative from the Council of Agriculture said it feared that wastewater from the industrial park would affect the environment of the black-faced spoonbill wildlife sanctuary to the north of the Tsengwen River’s (曾文溪) mouth.
In response, the local government said it has excluded highly pollutive industries, including smelting and metal electroplating, from the park and also stipulated that semiconductor, electronics, machinery and other industries are prohibited from discharging wastewater outside the park.
Moreover, a 8,000 tonne reservoir would be built in the park for water recycling and treatment, it said, adding that it plans to expand the ring-necked pheasant conservation area to 4.28 hectares.
The EIA ad hoc meeting concluded that it would approve the case and forward it to the EIA general assembly, and that the local government would be in violation of the law if any wastewater is discharged from the park.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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