Residents in the greater Kaohsiung area have been complaining about poor water quality for a long time. So far, they have elected two DPP members as Kaohsiung mayor and Kaohsiung County commissioner. They also voted for Chen Shui-bian
The recent dumping of hazardous chemical solvents in Chishan River (旗山溪) is just the tip of the iceberg. This incident has revealed that the central and local governments have long turned a blind eye to the hardships of people in the greater Kaohsiung area -- for years they have been denied clean drinking water.
We residents of greater Kaohsiung really envy Taipei people for having a clean supply of water. When some waste was dumped into the Feitsui Reservoir
That hundreds thousands of people in Kaohsiung were left without drinking water did not seem to be such a big deal to our top government officials. So far President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has not made any comment about it. Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) was busy with the election of the DPP Central Standing Committee members in Taipei. Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yu Cheng-Hsien (余政憲) only showed up on the TV news for several seconds, a couple of days after the story broke.
In addition to the ignorance of government officials, the official solution for solving the water supply problem is even more infuriating. Yu has taken the lead in opposing the construction of the Meinung Dam
I think the government should adopt a more proactive attitude in addressing the water supply problem in this area. The government should commission a credible organization to conduct another review regarding the safety of the Meinung Dam. If the results are still that the construction is impracticable, the government should look for a new site because a dam is a fundamental solution to the problem. The bizarre idea of digging ponds to provide water, one of the alternatives proposed by the DPP, should be discarded.
The mid and downstream areas of Kaoping River (
From the viewpoint of environment protection and ecological conservation, it is correct to dredge the waterway of the Kaoping river. But the question is, is the water drinkable even after the dredging? Several hundred billion dollars has been spent on a dredging project for the Tamsui River
I have visited many cities in several developed countries and have found that having drinkable tap water is one of the standards of being a developed country. While tap water in Taipei is now close to being potable, Kao-hsiung's tap water is even worse than that in an underdeveloped country. We have "one country, two systems" when it comes to the huge gap in water quality between Taipei and Kaohsiung. People in Kaohsiung have a right to be angry with the government. They showed strong support for the DPP in the previous elections because they sympathized with its ideology. But in future elections they will discard ideological concerns and give their votes to the party which will take care of the chronic water problem.
I have been a loyal supporter of the DPP for a long time. But my support has been shaken by the government's indifference to the plight of the Kaohsiung people. Their fury is now brewing and the KMT has been keeping a close eye on this incident, ready to make the best use of the opportunity to embarrass the DPP. I want to call on the DPP to stop treating Kaohsiung people like idiots. They probably will surprise the party in future elections by making a wise choice between ideology and survival.
Lee Tao-chen is chief of the department of neurosurgery at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung.
Translated by Kathy Chu
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