Water is the best beverage to quench one’s thirst, and drinking water helps the environment by reducing the amount of wasteful packaging used for bottled drinks, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday.
“Bottled drinks often contain lots of sugar, food coloring, artificial flavors and preservatives, not to mention that their packaging is not environmentally friendly,” the EPA’s director-general of the department of environmental sanitation and toxic substance management, Yuan Shaw-ying (袁紹英), said.
In order to increase the public’s confidence in domestic tap water, the administration evaluated the 300-plus water purification plants nationwide and yesterday lauded seven for their outstanding devotion to providing quality water to the public, Yuan said.
Saying that the administration inspects all water purification plants around the country for a total of more than 10,000 inspections a year, Yuan assured the public that 99 percent of the plants in Taiwan pass EPA standards for drinking water safety.
“The purification plants, including Taipei Water Department’s Chitan plant, and Taiwan Water Corporation’s Nanhua, Banhsin, Tunghsin, Shapodang, Shenkou, and Liyu Lake plants, were selected for recognition because of their exceptional managerial standards and customer service, transparent [online] water quality information to the public and stringent water quality control,” Yuan said.
The seven plants are scattered geographically around the country, covering Taipei City and County, Taichung and Miaoli cities, the greater Tainan region and Hualien City and County, providing drinking water to 7 million people, Yuan said, one-third of Taiwan’s population.
Saying that water in Taiwan can be consumed safely; Yuan encouraged the public to take their own water bottles when they go out, but also warned that tap water should be boiled before drinking.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to