The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday launched its annual showcase for soil and groundwater protection in Taipei, drawing hundreds of global delegates to learn about the agency’s efforts to prevent soil and water contamination and the nation’s pollution-monitoring technologies.
The three-day exhibition, dubbed the International Conference of Remediation and Management of Soil and Groundwater Contaminated Sites, highlights partnerships between the EPA, local precision manufacturing companies and academic experts to develop and apply new environmental protection technologies.
For example, National Taiwan University associate professor Huang Chien-fen (黃千芬), an expert on sediment surveying, is guiding the agency on how to operate a sub-bottom profiler — a machine that performs real-time data analysis on sediments to find areas with excessive levels of heavy metals.
Agency official Chang Chih-wei (張志偉) said that the device helps the EPA locate areas that need to be excavated to prevent heavy metals from being consumed by freshwater animals or tapped for irrigation and entering the food chain.
Regarding dioxin sampling, EPA Environmental Analysis Laboratory division head Chen Yuan-wu (陳元武) said the agency is collaborating with a private firm to develop a continuous centrifugal system to sample dioxins in groundwater, wastewater and drinking water from purification plants.
The machine uses filter paper and foam to extract dioxins in water samples before frozen samples undergo detailed analysis, he said.
The machine, although developed over a period of more than three years, cost about NT$500,000 (US$16,150), making it more time-saving than its predecessors and more cost-efficient than its Japanese counterparts, which cost twice as much, he said.
On managing defunct factories, agency official Sun Tung-ching (孫冬京) said plant or land owners must pass the EPA’s soil analysis before they can set up factories in other places or lease their land to other operators.
There are about 120,000 defunct plants nationwide, she said.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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