Accompanied by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻), Miaoli County residents yesterday urged the Water Resources Agency (WRA) to abort its planned construction of the Tianhuahu Reservoir (天花湖水庫) on the border of Miaoli’s Touwu (頭屋) and Gongguan (公館) townships.
Construction plans for the reservoir were initiated more than a decade ago, and while local residents have opposed the project for several years — gathering a petition with more than 10,000 signatures in 2010 — the plan gained conditional approval at an environmental impact assessment meeting earlier this month.
Wu said residents are concerned that the cross-watershed diversion engineering project could lead to possible mudslides, such as the one in Greater Kaohsiung’s Siaolin Village (小林), which was buried by a massive mudslide when Typhoon Morakot struck the area in 2009 and which it was said to have been caused by the Tsengwen Reservoir (曾文水庫) project.
“The cross-watershed diversion causes the water vein in the mountain to become dried and cracked, and if there is sudden and heavy rain during the dry season it could lead to a massive landslide,” convener of the Southern Waters Alliance Lu Tai-ying (魯台營) said.
The planned reservoir is also located on a faultline, so it may also threaten lives in the two nearby townships, Lu said.
There are already five reservoirs in the county that provide enough water for the nearby townships, Gongguan Township Elected Representatives member Chou Feng-chia (周逢甲) said, adding that the residents are also concerned about the project diverting water from the Houlong River (後龍溪) and adversely affecting the environment or causing desertification in downstream areas.
Chiang Kui-hsi (江貴熙), vice chairperson of Touwu Township Elected Representatives, said the project would not only lead to the forced eviction of more than 200 people living in a village in Touwu Township, but also restrictions on development projects in nearby villages to protect the quality of water, so the plan would affect nearly the whole township.
Wu asked the WRA to re-evaluate the water usage in Miaoli County and hold public hearings in the townships that would be affected by the project within the next three months to communicate with local residents, before submitting a construction plan to the Executive Yuan.
In response, Water Resources Agency Deputy Director-General Lai Bor-hsun (賴伯勳) said the reservoir has been planned according to the future development needs of the county and the engineering techniques used would be carefully chosen to mitigate the concerns of local residents.
“The fault only runs through a part of the area of the planned project and tunnel engineering techniques have improved, so if there are some geologically fractured zones the agency would certainly employ safe construction measures,” Lai said, adding that the agency would continue to communicate with local residents on the project.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS