Hundreds of dead mullet (
The fish died due to a lack of oxygen in the water, the officials said -- the third such case this year. The quality of the river's water, however, has been returning to normal since the discovery, they said.
Shortly before midnight on Sunday, Taipei City and Taipei County governments both received reports from residents of dead mullet floating in the Tamsui River, which separates the two administrative zones. Most were discovered in the stretch between Taipei Bridge (台北橋) and Chongyang Bridge(重陽橋).
Investigation called for
Yesterday morning, officials of the EPA's regional inspection bureau asked environmental inspectors from Taipei City and Taipei County governments to investigate the deaths.
According to Taipei County tests of the river water, the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water was 1.35 milligrams per liter, far lower than the level of between 2mg and 4mg/l that is regarded as acceptable.
"Lower dissolved oxygen values can be attributed to an increase in organic chemicals [in the river], which might come from household sewage," Wu Sheng-jong (吳盛忠), head of the EPA's North Region Branch Inspection Bureau, told the Taipei Times yesterday.
Wu said that mullet found on the river's banks had their mouths open, indicating they had been struggling to get enough oxygen. Fish, which need oxygen just like other animals, absorb it from water through their gills.
Taipei City environmental officials said that there had been very little rain recently, meaning that household sewage discharged into the river was not being properly diluted.
Sewage is discharged into the river legally after it is treated. Officials fear, however, that some sewage is being dumped into the river without first being treated in order to reduce treatment costs.
The officials said they will conduct stricter inspections of waste water treatment facilities soon as they had not yet discovered the source of untreated sewage releases.
Two of the 363 dead mullet collected were sent to Taipei Municipal Institute for Animal Health for further examination into the cause of the deaths.
Water `returning to normal'
EPA officials said that tests on the river's water later yesterday morning showed that the water was returning to normal -- levels of dissolved oxygen had risen to 2.8mg/l.
They said that they continuously monitored the water quality of the Tamsui River and treated it when necessary. The average level of dissolved oxygen in the river last month was 2.2mg/l.
This is the third case of mass fish deaths in the river basin this year. In March, about 10,000 fish died near the Chungcheng Bridge (中正橋) on the Hsintien River (新店溪), a tributary of the Tamsui River, because of oxygen depletion. A similar case occurred in September, when 8,000 mullet were found dead of oxygen starvation near the Jiangpei Bridge (江北橋) on the Keelung River (基隆河), also a tributary of the Tamsui River.
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