The Environmental Protection Administration announced last week that the Erjen River (二仁溪), which runs through Tainan City, has replaced the Peikang River (北港溪) as the nation's most polluted waterway.
A 31km stretch of the 65km-long river is considered heavily polluted, meaning that since a 2005 survey an additional 6km has become heavily polluted.
Waste water produced by the 360,000 people living near its banks accounts for 43 percent of the pollution, making residential waste the primary source of contamination.
Pigs
Waste water from 270,000 pigs being raised nearby accounts for 40 percent, and industrial waste water makes up 9 percent.
The basin of the Erjen River, one of the major rivers of southern Taiwan, separates the counties of Tainan and Kaoshiung and covers 350km2.
The second and third-placed rivers on the list of polluted waterways were the Yenshui River (鹽水溪) -- which is also in Tainan County -- and Kaohsiung County's Ahgungtien River (阿公店溪).
Their sources of pollution are similar to those of the Erjen.
Researchers were shocked to discover that the Yenshui and Erjen rivers had moved up the list so rapidly from the last survey, when they were listed as the second and third cleanest.
Neglect
Researchers blamed county authorities for failing to build underground waste water disposal systems or water purification plants and for neglecting to investigate pollution released by nearby factories.
Meanwhile, the section of Peikang River in Yunlin County that is considered heavily polluted shrank by more than 11km to 26.9km. The drop was the most positive change since last year's evaluation.
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