Mon, Mar 27, 2000 page2

• Chen faces sewage challenge

  WATER TREATMENT Although the president-elect had some success in building waste water processing infrastructure for Taipei City during his tenure as mayor, specialists say the situation across the country is vastly more complex

  • By Chiu Yu-Tzu / STAFF REPORTER
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  With president-elect Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) currently busy looking for suitable candidates to lead his future government, some scientists have expressed concerns that the new administration may not be able to address the grave environmental threat caused by Taiwan's low sewage treatment rate -- a problem blamed for the declining water quality in its major rivers.

  "I'm afraid that infrastructure budgets, especially for sewage treatment -- an issue that doesn't get much attention -- could be left out," said Chen Yao-jen (陳耀仁), a specialist in charge of an environmental project at CTCI Corp (中鼎工程公司), the largest integrated engineering and construction firm in Taiwan.

  A vote winning strategy?

  It was, in fact, not until it became an issue during the past presidential election that many people in Taiwan learned that just 3 percent of domestic-use waste water goes through integrated sewage systems before being discharged into open water sources.

  The low rate of treatment in Taiwan had once been pointed out by recently-resigned Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), who reportedly called it a "shame in the international community," given that it is a developed country with a GDP of nearly US$13,000.

  During the campaign, the KMT's presidential candidate, Lien Chan (連戰), said he would budget at least NT$15 billion to further implement proper sewage facilities, at an annual growth rate of 3 percent.

  However, this problem created an excellent stage which the DPP's Chen has used to show off his achievements in dealing with the sewage problem.

  In Taiwan, the highest level of integrated sewage systems for domestic waste water is Taipei City's 43 percent, achieved while Chen was mayor.

  This rate is far ahead of other local governments, where septic tank systems are still commonly used by households.

  For his efforts in raising the level of waste water treatment for Taipei, Chen gained a good reputation for establishing infrastructure to deal with the situation.

  However, few people are aware that in Taoyuan, headed by Chen's Vice President-elect Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), the treatment rate is only 0.75 percent, ranked the lowest in Taiwan.

  So who needs treatment?

  Taoyuan is typical of rural areas where septic tank sewage systems are still common.

  Even in industrialized Kaohisung City, the sewage treatment rate is only 11 percent.

  It was only in July 1994 that the Construction and Planning Administration under the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) issued guidelines for sewage handling in new communities that accommodate more than 500 residents.

  However, the government appears unable to deal with overcrowded cities.

  Environmental engineers have said for a number of years that sewage treatment levels in rural counties are incredibly low, making it impossible to make efforts to clean up polluted rivers ineffective.

  Engineers said that domestic waste water should not be drained along with rain water and transferred to sewage plants for further treatment before discharging directly into rivers, as is currently done.

  "Once sewage treatment facilities are established, we can treat household waste water and rain water separately," said Wen Ching-gung (溫清光), an environmental engineering professor at National Cheng Kung University (成功大學), saying that rain water is far cleaner than household waste water.

  A comparison with developing countries

  Industry experts say the government has ignored the issue of establishing proper sewage treatment -- an index of life quality -- for decades.

  "Even in developing countries, such as China, cities with more than 300,000 residents are required to build sewage treatment systems," said James Huang (黃進勇), a manager at Super Max Engineering Enterprise Co (水美工程企業), a Taipei-based engineering firm that treats water in both Taiwan and China.

  China is now reportedly making efforts to increase sewage treatment levels in its cities.

  According to China's Xinhua News Agency, the World Bank and the Chinese State Development Bank will provide 65 percent of the US$310 million in loans for a project in Chongqing, for which the city government is to raise the rest of the money.

  "Based on our experience in China, leaders have admitted that pollution levels in lakes and rivers constitute an environmental crisis. That's why they have to do something as soon as possible," Huang said.

  "Although I'm optimistic about Taiwan's new government, it doesn't mean that we can count on political figures," Huang said.

  "Such people tend to do things which can draw people's attention in a short period of time," he added.

  Looking at the big picture

  Industrial engineers, meanwhile, suggest that the new government should consider actively cleaning polluted rivers, instead of just focusing on local sewage treatment levels.

  "The high sewage treatment rate in Taipei City cannot [lead to the] immediate cleaning of the Tamshui River (淡水河) because more pollution controls are needed in its upper reaches," said CTCI's Chen, adding that low sewage treatment rates in Taipei County and Taoyuan County have resulted in heavy pollution.

  "We need more measures to form a complete set of water treatment policies," Chen said.
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