In a bid to improve water quality and eliminate dengue fever breeding sites, the Taipei City Government yesterday announced that it would start monitoring the performance of septic tanks across the city.
Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Liou Ming-lone (劉銘龍) said the agency would require 962 buildings more than five stories high and overseen by a management committee to clean their septic tanks once a year starting next year.
Liou said the policy complements the city’s river restoration efforts to improve the water quality along the Tamsui (淡水河), Sindian (新店溪) and Keelung (基隆河) rivers.
He said that septic tanks that are cleaned regularly have a longer service life and on average show 51 percent functionality, while those that are not cleaned become virtually dysfunctional, showing only 3 percent functionality.
He said that with the percentage of households and businesses in Taipei connected to the public sewage system exceeding 74 percent, the number of buildings whose septic tanks are monitored by the city government has declined from 1,818 in 2002 to 511.
According to the new regulations, management committees are to submit invoices documenting that work to maintain the tanks has been conducted, while residents who do not comply could be fined between NT$1,200 and NT$6,000 under the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法), he said.
Septic tanks are connected to rainwater drainage pipes beside roadways and can become breeding sites for dengue fever-transmitting mosquitoes if their outflows are not properly treated, Liou said.
However, as the rule only targets registered buildings with management committees, it means that septic tanks at about 30,000 buildings, or 26 percent, that do not meet the requirements would not be listed as controled by the city government.
Depoartment head Tang Chen-hsiung (唐振雄) said the agency would dispatch inspectors to buildings to check the state of their septic tanks and ask residents to make improvements if necessary.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it