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.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
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