Investigators are still trying to determine the source of an estimated 190 liters of oil that was dumped into the Houjing River (
On Wednesday, Kaohsiung residents reported a foul odor emanating from the Houjing. Residents also noted that parts of the river were covered with a heavy black oil.
City officials suspect the oil may have come from factories located in the Jen-ta Industrial Zone in Kaohsiung County, but environmental inspectors have yet to determine the oil's source.
"We sampled the waste-water discharge of three factories in the Jen-ta Industrial Zone, but the results are still unavailable," said Hsieh Chi-yen (
More than 100 city garbage collectors spent three days working to clean up the mess last week. City officials say water-quality levels along the polluted section of the Houjing have begun to return to normal.
Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Lin Yung-chien (
Lin said that regional collaboration needed to be improved in order to solve pollution problems that affect more than one government jurisdiction.
Officials at the Southern Region Branch Inspection Bureau under the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday that the contamination incident was serious compared to earlier cases.
Still, emergency measures taken by the local environmental bureau helped to limit the effects of the contamination.
"However, the city has not yet decided whether to carry out a long-term ecological survey on the impact of the contamination," said a branch official, who declined to give his name.
EPA head Hau Lung-bin (
Last weekend, Kaohsiung County environmental officials tested the waste-water discharges of several leather and dyeing factories, finding six that were in violation of environmental laws.
Officials said they found levels of heavy metals such as chromium in waste water that exceeded national standards.
Hsieh noted yesterday that finding illegal waste-water discharges was a challenge. The environmental official said that it takes just 30 minutes to dump hazardous waste into a river, making detection of illegal discharges difficult.
"However, the number of leather and dyeing factories has been reduced from 32 to 12 since last October because we've fined dishonest ones," Hsieh said.
Hsieh said more financial support from the EPA was needed for equipment that could carry out real-time monitoring of factories that discharge waste water into rivers.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
RSS