Despite water suspensions implemented by the Taipei City Government to prevent murky water supplies in the wake of Typhoon Dujuan, some Taipei and New Taipei City residents said they still had murky tap water supplied to their homes.
An increase in turbidity levels in areas upstream of the Nanshih River (南勢溪) on Monday — which exceeded 12,000 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) at about 4:30pm and later soared past 20,000 NTU — prompted the Taipei Water Department to cut off its water supplies to Taipei and several areas in New Taipei City in accordance with a standard operating procedure (SOP) introduced by Taipei City Government after Typhoon Soudelor in August.
Asked why the problem of murky tap water had persisted with the new SOP in place, Taipei Water Department Commissioner Chen Chin-hsiang (陳錦祥) said the resumption of the water supply probably stirred up sediment in the bottom of water towers.
He said the problem would disappear after residents kept their tap water running for a while, adding that people should clean their water towers at least once a year.
Meanwhile, households in Taipei and New Taipei City which had their tap water cut off due to the typhoon had their water supplies turned back on yesterday.
About 190,000 households saw tap water completely turned off due to the typhoon, Chen said.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
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A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all