An acid rain alert system will be launched next year at the soonest after the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has gathered more weather forecast data, an EPA official said yesterday.
Rain with a pH of 5 or less is defined as acid rain, which causes toxic chemicals in the soil and rocks to leech into the water system, and can harm aquatic life and erode outdoor structures, the agency said.
Rain samples collected last year had an average pH of 5.31, with those from Hsinchu reaching 4.73 and those in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢) reaching 4.79, data released by the agency on Saturday showed.
The rain in Taichung, Tainan and Yunlin County last year was relatively mild, with rain samples measuring pH values of 6.19, 6.03 and 6.09 respectively, the survey found.
During fall and winter, the northeastern monsoon often brings air pollutants from overseas, but stops in Hsinchu, causing the city’s rain to be more acidic, EPA Department of Air Quality Protection and Noise Control Director-General Tsai Hung-teh (蔡鴻德) said.
Despite the pH level of the nation’s rain improving over the past few years, the EPA hopes to launch an alert system for acid rain next year, he said.
However, the agency needs more precise weather forecast data, he said, adding that a detailed timetable is not yet available for the system.
While the Central Weather Bureau is one of the agencies that would be incorporated into the agency after the latter is restructured as the ministry of environmental protection and natural resources, the system’s setup would not be affected by the restructuring plan, given that the two agencies have worked together monitoring rain quality on a long-term basis, Tsai added.
Acid rain is harmful to human skin, as well as soil and crops, Air Clean Taiwan chairperson Yeh Guang-peng (葉光芃) said, adding that people should avoid exposure to it by using umbrellas or raincoats.
Additional reporting by CNA
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
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
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
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
RSS