Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday attributed the turbidity of tap water in areas of the city following Typhoon Soudelor to poor soil and water conservation efforts upstream of Nanshih River (南勢溪), saying that water transferred to purification plants had given rise to the problem.
The poor quality of tap water sparked waves of panic buying in Taipei and New Taipei cities over the weekend.
Asked whether the Taipei City Government had been slow to take action to address the tainted water, Ko said that the city government is not at fault, as it has carried out extensive soil and water protection measures along the Beishih River (北勢溪), which flows into the reservoir.
Photo: Lee Ya-wen, Taipei Times
“This is not the first time Taipei has been hit by a typhoon of this magnitude, but the city’s raw water turbidity surpassed 30,000 nephelometric turbidity units [NTU] over the weekend, indicating a problem,” Ko said.
The city would ask the central government to inspect areas upstream of the Nanshih River and make the necessary improvements to the city’s water supplies, he said.
Taipei Water Department Commissioner Chen Chin-hsiang (陳錦祥) said that no water had been supplied from Feitsui Reservoir (翡翠水庫) over the weekend, as city policy stipulates that water from Nanshih River be tapped first, and that water from the reservoir serve as a complement to cover the city’s water needs when necessary.
He said that as Nangshih River is governed by the Taipei Water Management Office, overseen by the Water Resources Agency, the city government can only offer the office suggestions on how to boost conservation efforts along the river.
He said the highest raw water turbidity the city had previously seen was 12,000 NTUs, recorded following Typhoon Soulik in 2013, which the department was then able to treat and continue the supply of clean water.
However, the department faced “great difficulty” treating contaminated water following Typhoon Soudelor, when water turbidity shot up from 10,000 NTUs at 7am on Saturday to 30,000 NTUs at 8am, forcing the departments in Chang Hsing, Gongguan and Jhihtan to limit water tapped from the Nanshih River, Chen said.
He said poor soil and water conservation measures led to numerous mudslides during Typhoon Soudelor, which likely contaminated water in the river, adding that access to New Taipei City’s Wulai District (烏來) — located downstream of the river — was still blocked as a result of mudslides as of press time last night.
Water quality was back to normal yesterday, with raw water and tap water turbidity dropping below 200 NTUs and 1 NTU respectively, Chen said.
However, Taipei Department of Health Secretary-General Hsu Chao-chen (許朝程) urged the public to boil water five minutes longer than they normally would over the next couple of days to eliminate the potentially pathogenic chloroform often associated with impurities in water.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
‘INDISCRIMINATE’: The drastic changes would delay many national projects as well as undermine global confidence in Taiwan’s resolve to defend itself, the premier said The Legislative Yuan yesterday on third reading passed the central government budget for this year, cutting 6.6 percent from the Executive Yuan’s proposed expenditure — the largest in history. The budget proposal, which the Cabinet approved in August last year, set government spending at NT$3.1325 trillion (US$95.6 billion), with projected revenues of NT$3.1534 trillion — both record highs — working out to a surplus of NT$20.9 billion. On Friday last week, the opposition-led legislature voted to cut NT$93.98 billion from the budget’s general provisions. During a 20-hour continuous session from Monday until yesterday morning, they continued to slash the budgets of government agencies,
RSS