Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) yesterday said that it was the Taipei City Government’s decision to supply turbid water to parts of Taipei following Typhoon Soudelor.
The murky tap water some Taipei residents experienced in the aftermath of the typhoon has whipped up a political dispute between the Taipei City Government and the central government.
Sun, at a press conference after a Cabinet meeting yesterday, said Taipei Deputy Mayor Teng Chia-chi (鄧家基) claimed during the meeting that it was the city government’s decision to supply murky tap water.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Tuesday said that the decision over whether to continue supplying water despite its turbidity instead of cutting supplies was “made after weighing different options, and found to be the least damaging.”
Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Bao-ji (陳保基) yesterday said that it is not unusual for typhoons to degrade water quality, “but the key lies in the subsequent handling of water put into supply and the measures taken to stabilize its quality.”
Turbidity in tap water usually drops sharply between 12 and 20 hours after an initial spike, so a temporary water outage can reduce the possibility of contaminating the water supply, Chen said, adding that uncontaminated water often flushes out the turbidity while supplies are suspended.
“Many other cities and counties have also had to deal with contamination, and they have used this technique successfully,” Chen said.
Sun said that murky river water and murky tap water are two different issues that are not always connected.
Upon its completion next year, the new Tamkang Bridge (淡江大橋) in New Taipei City is to be an important landmark in Taiwan, alongside Taipei 101, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shi-kai (陳世凱) said today. The bridge is scheduled to be completed in December next year and open to the public in the first half of 2026, connecting New Taipei City’s Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里) districts. It is an asymmetric single-tower suspension bridge, nearly 70 stories tall, designed by world-famous architect Zaha Hadid. The bridge aims to alleviate traffic in Tamsui and on the Guandu Bridge (關渡大橋), in addition to increasing the
PUBLIC TRANSPORT: As some roads would be fully or partially closed, people are advised to take the MRT, with services expanded to accommodate more riders This year’s Taipei Marathon, which has obtained its first gold label certification from World Athletics, is to be held from 5am to 1pm tomorrow and would have 28,000 participants. The race is to start from the Taipei City Plaza and would go through major roads throughout the city, with traffic control implemented from 6am to 2pm, officials said. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system and New Taipei City MRT Circle line would start operating at 5am on the day of the race, they said. The race would cover Renai Road, Xinyi Road, Hangzhou S Road, Aiguo east and west roads,
EXERCISES: A 2022 article by a Chinese intelligence expert identified at least six People’s Liberation Army assault boats hidden inside the Hong Kong-flagged ship A Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship that had been docked at Taichung Port and which previously took part in Chinese military exercises departed from the port on Saturday, the Taiwan International Ports Corp’s Taichung branch said yesterday. The statement came in response to a post on the social media platform X by Taiwan-based journalist Chris Horton that said the ship, the SCSC Fortune, had been docked at the port since Tuesday and questioned whether Taiwan has any rules regarding foreign civilian vessels that have participated in People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises. Horton referenced a 2022 article by Chinese intelligence expert Rod Lee that
PROBLEMATIC: Popular hotpot restaurant chains were among the list of restaurants that failed the inspection and have been ordered to remove bad ingredients The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of hotpot ingredients in hotpot restaurants resulted in a 16.7 percent failure rate. Eight vegetables had excessive pesticide residue and two other items had aflatoxin and excessive preservatives. As the weather is getting colder, more people eat at hotpot restaurants so a random inspection of ingredients was conducted in October to ensure food safety, the department said. Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) said 60 different ingredients were tested: 15 high-risk vegetables, 15 processed food items, 10 soy-based food items, five meat items, five lamb items, five seafood items and five peanut powder