The last section of Taipei’s lead water pipes was replaced yesterday, marking the completion of the replacement project about 15 months ahead of schedule, the Taipei Water Department said.
Following a tainted water scare in Hong Kong in 2015, when tap water was found to contain lead levels above WHO safety limits, a similar concern emerged in Taiwan after local media reported that lead pipes carried water to about 36,000 households in seven Taiwanese cities and counties.
The department at the time said that no lead pipes were installed after 1979 and that a total of 424km of lead pipes longer than 20m had been replaced between 2009 and 2013, adding that the remaining lead pipes in the city would be gradually replaced by 2025.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
However, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) asked the department to reschedule the replacement project and allocate more funds to expedite it, promising to replace all lead pipes in the city with stainless steel pipes in three years.
Speaking at Dunqing Park (敦親公園) in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) yesterday, department Commissioner Chen Chin-hsiang (陳錦祥) said that with an additional budget of NT$420 million (US$13.86 million), the department was able to replace lead pipes serving 17,714 households in 21 months — 15 months sooner than scheduled.
At a media gathering in an alley next to the park, Ko held up the city’s last lead water pipe and gave a new stainless steel pipe to a worker to install it, marking the completion of the project.
“Taipei, being an old city, has a development history of more than a decade ... and the remaining ones [lead pipes] have been replaced in the past two years,” he said. “This marks the end of lead water pipes in Taipei.”
The new pipes are made using corrugated stainless steel tubing, which is also used in Japan, and has better resistance against earthquakes and mild excavator damage, Chen said, adding that the new pipes can ensure better water quality for the next 40 to 50 years.
Ko said the city government aims to install drinking fountains in all the parks in the city, hoping they will reduce the use of bottled water and disposable containers, which are a heavy burden on the environment.
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,
RSS