Taiwan Water Corp is to resume the intake of water from the Keelung River (基隆河) tomorrow following an oil spill late last month, after confirming that it meets drinking-water standards, the state-run company said today.
Taiwan Water chairperson Lee Jia-rong (李嘉榮) said the company has strengthened its monitoring of water quality at the suspected source of the spill from Saturday to yesterday, including rapid screening for odor and volatile compounds, after Keelung authorities completed dredging and anti-pollution measures on Friday last week.
Photo: Lu Hsien-hsiu, Taipei Times
No traces of oil have been detected for several days and third-party tests have verified that the water meets both drinking-water source standards and drinking-water standards, he said, although the actual source of the pollution has yet to be identified.
Water intake from the Keelung River, suspended since an oil slick was detected on Nov. 27, would resume at 8am tomorrow, but be halted at night, Lee said.
Intake hours would be gradually extended depending on the stability of the water's quality.
The incident affected about 180,000 households, who would be broadly identified and not have to pay about half a month of water fees, Lee said.
That exemption is to result in at least NT$20 million (US$641,211) in lost revenue for company, Lee said.
At the same time, the company and environmental agencies are working with prosecutors to trace the pollution's source, which, once found, would be required to pay the company compensation.
Deputy Minister of Environment Yeh Jiunn-Horng (葉俊宏), who also attended the news conference, said suspects have been identified, and investigators are looking into the case and collecting evidence.
On future pollution-prevention efforts, Wang Yueh-pin (王嶽斌), director-general of the Ministry of Environment's Department of Water Quality Protection, said Keelung authorities would form a specialized inspection team.
The team would be responsible for identifying pollution hot spots, monitoring land use in water-source protection areas and strengthening patrols targeting potential pollution sources.
In a statement today, the ministry said it had directed the environmental protection agencies of Keelung and New Taipei City to step up patrols in their respective areas.
Since the incident, 65 businesses had been inspected, eight sampled and two reported as of yesterday.
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