Illegal leather tanning factories along Fengshan River (
EPA Administrator Chang Juu-en (
PHOTO: CHAI CHING-HUA, TAIPEI TIMES
At the ceremony, also attended by Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興), Fengshan Mayor Lin San-lang (林三郎), and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yi-shih (林益世), clear water was poured into the river to symbolize the river's future vitality.
"Staff of environmental agencies at all levels will inspect illegal tanning factories in order to revive the Fengshan River," Chang said.
Originating in the mountainous areas of Kaohsiung County, the river passes through Fengshan City, population 300,000, before entering neighboring Kaohsiung City.
The commissioner said that three or four decades ago, when its water was still clean, the river was a popular place for swimmers. However, now it is notorious for being heavily polluted by household sewage and industrial wastewater.
"To make the river accessible, restoration projects will include planting trees, paving paths for recreational walkers, and building sewer systems," Yang said.
In the county, a sewage treatment plant will be completed by April next year to intercept polluted waters.
EPA officials said that for decades the waters of the 20km Fengshan River have been polluted by waste water from illegal leather tanning factories.
Since 2002, the river has been listed as one of the nation's 13 most seriously polluted rivers ranked as deserving comprehensive treatment.
According to Leu Horng-guang (
As a result, three registered factories were penalized for discharging untreated wastewater, four illegal tanning factories were shut down, and two illegal wells used by tanning factories were closed.
After visiting the river yesterday, Leu said that treating the river was urgent.
"The river water I observed under the scorching sun in the south was even bubbling," Leu told the Taipei Times.
According to Leu, in 2004 and 2005 the EPA will allocate the local authority about NT$400 million to carry out restoration work along a 5km section of the river near Fengshan City.
The first stage of this work will be completed by the end of next year.
Downstream, the river crosses the border into Kaohsiung City and runs through the industrial zones of the city. It was once so heavily polluted that no fish could survive in it.
Several years ago, however, the Kaohsiung City government built a sewer system to intercept the polluted water. Currently, about 300,000 metric tons of polluted river water are diverted to a municipal sewage treatment plant daily.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and