The Ministry of Environment’s National Environmental Research Academy and the Water Resources Agency (WRA) today announced plans to make the Tamsui River (淡水河) clean enough to swim in.
“The goal is for people to swim in the river some day, just like the Seine in Paris,” Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭啓明) said at an event marking the signing of a memorandum of understanding on the “Transparent Tamsui River” project.
Reaching this goal would require cooperation between the WRA, the central government and local governments, Peng added.
Photo: Chen Chia-yi, Taipei Times
In the next few months, the project is to launch an online platform to allow the public to understand the pollution status of the river, he said.
The Tamsui River is Taiwan’s most iconic river, Peng said, adding that it has been allocated the most money for cleaning and rehabilitation.
Monitoring stations along the river can help identify pollution sources and help officials take necessary steps to reduce it, WRA Director-General Lai Chien-hsin (賴建信) said.
Climate change affects seawater and the amount of water flowing through the Tamsui River to the sea, Lai said.
Starting this year, the agencies are to launch a new study on the impact of climate change on water volume and how heavily polluted water plays a role in these dynamics, Lai said.
As climate change has caused severe changes in water systems, proactive water management is necessary, said Liu Tsung-yung (劉宗勇), head of the National Environmental Research Academy.
Through scientific research, these efforts can be strengthened, such as cooperation between the National Environmental Research Academy and WRA on climate change, pollution prevention and water planning, Liu said.
The ministry is also seeking about NT$1.3 billion (US$39.7 million) in funding from the Executive Yuan to complete a cleanup of Tainan’s Erjen River (二仁溪), Peng said.
During his last visit, Peng said that under the sunlight, the river was shining, but instead of fish scales, it was “from semiconductors.”
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