Nice Drinking Water the policy initiative will be implemented very shortly for the people of Kaohsiung 高雄人喝好水指日可待
Providing best-quality water
For the past several decades, the quality of water in the Kaohsiung Area has been questioned. However, nice drinking water can be expected soon in Greater Kaohsiung. Every great project of improvement to provide quality water will be finished. Meantime, the quality water at the source of the Kao-pin River, which has been improved by operating various methods together, has been re-graded from third-rate to second-rate.
After making an inspection tour concerning the problem of drinking water of Greater Kaohsiung Area on August 5, 2000, President Chen Shui-bian made a promise: a budget of 15,000,000,000 NT dollars will be spent to finish "Project for follow-up improvement of Greater Kaohsiung Area's tap water" and "Project for a linking pipe between the water reservoir of the Southern area and the dam dike of Kao-ping River" by the end of 2003. This will give people in the Greater Kaohsiung Area the same quality of water as in Taipei.
Ahead of schedule
About "Project for follow-up improvement of Greater Kaohsiung Area's tap water" which will help to improve greatly the quality of tap water, it has already been finished. On November 19, 2002, a ceremony was held to celebrate this successful water supply initiative.
Among the projects for improving water quality, the ceremony for beginning construction for "Increasing provision of high-grade purification water in the Chengching Lake, Kaotan and Ong-kon-yuan plant" was held on July 11, 2002.
The high-grade water purification area in Ong-kon-yuan uses filtration and separation spectrum. After completion, this project is expected to give a water supply of 290,000 cubic meters each day. Its water quality will meet the required standard for quality of drinking water of the third-level official announcement of Environmental Protection Administration: its hardness will be less than 150 ml /liter, and the total amount of dissolved solid will be less than 250 ml/liter. By the end of March this year, the project was 71.8% finished - 4.48% more than planned.
As for "Project for linking pipe between the water reservoir of Southern area and the dam dike of Kao-ping River", the Water Resource Agency of Ministry of Economic Affairs is planning to build two pools for reducing pressure, Maopu and Neimen, and an underground linking pipe of 57 km. At the end of February this year, the project was 65.43% finished - 8.32% more than planned.
After completion of the projects mentioned above, the average water supply each day will increase by 250,000 cubic meters for Chia-nan and Kaohsiung Areas respectively and also solve the problem of demand for water in the Greater Kaohsiung Area.
Additionally, TWSC is preceding with its "Project for cleaning mud from the bottom of Chengching Lake" which will also effectively improve the quality of tap water in the Greater Kaohsiung Area.
Cleaning mud
In order to match the regulations of water supply from Chengching Lake, not to have any influence on the normal operation of water reservoir, and to reduce the impact on surrounding environmental scenery, the project for cleaning the water reservoir for Chengching Lake will use the methods of dredging, removing and drawing out mud in the water in divided zones and of letting water leak out and be cleaned. Between the two zones is a space for building an embankment. The project for cleaning the mud from the bottom will be finished by the end of 2004.
Concerning the other water supply from Kao-pin River in the Greater Kaohsiung Area, in the past, along this river, there was wastewater from livestock industry, from domestics, and from some other industries. Environmental Protection Administration created a protected area by giving compensation to encourage those keeping pigs to remove them to other areas or cease business at the end of 2001. After one year, we found that the amount of ammonium nitrate in Kao-pin River was halved. Thus water quality has been improved from third-rate to second-rate. The plan to provide "nice drinking water" for people of the Greater Kaohsiung Area is gradually coming true.
優質飲水 計畫開跑
數十年來備受詬病的大高雄地區飲用水品質問題，將隨著各項重大水質改善工程計劃陸續完成，以及高屏溪水源水質標準從丙類提升到乙類等多管齊下的措施改善，大高雄民眾「喝好水」的期盼指日可待。
陳水扁總統於八十九年八月五日巡視大高雄地區飲用水問題時曾指示，將於九十二年底前以新台幣一百五十億元經費，完成「大高雄地區自來水後續改善工程計畫」及「南化水庫與高屏溪攔河堰聯通管路計畫」，讓大高雄地區民眾可以喝到與台北同等的優質飲水。
水質改善 進度超前
攸關自來水品質將大幅改善的「大高雄地區自來水後續改善工程計畫」已完工，並於九十一年十一月十九日舉行通水典禮。
改善工程項目中的「澄清湖、拷潭及翁公園廠增設高級淨水處理設備」，亦已於九十一年七月十一日舉行動工典禮。
另拷潭及翁公園高級淨水場則以薄膜處理方式，預定完工後每日出水二十九萬立方公尺，出水水質將符合環保署公告之第三階段飲用水水質標準，硬度小於一五○毫克／公升，總溶解固體量小於二五○毫克／公升，全部工程預定於九十二年底前完成。目前進度已超前四．四八％。
另一項重大水質改善工程為「南化水庫與高屏溪攔河堰聯通管路計畫」，經濟部水利署計畫興建茅埔、內門減壓池兩座及埋設聯通幹管五十七公里，預定於九十二年底前完成，目前已超前進度八．三二％。
上述工程完成後，未來平均每日將增供嘉南及高雄地區各二十五萬立方公尺水量，以期解決大高雄地區之用水需求。
清除底泥 明年完工
此外，可望有效改善大高雄地區自來水水質的「澄清湖底泥清除計畫」，由台灣省自來水公司辦理該項工程進行中。為配合澄清湖給水廠供水原則，同時不影響水庫正常營運，並減少週遭環境景觀之衝擊，澄清湖水庫清除計畫工程採分區水中浚渫抽泥及放乾開挖工法，預定於九十三年年底前完工。
另一供應大高雄地區飲用水源的高屏溪，以往因沿岸畜牧廢水、家庭污水及工業廢水污染源，經環保署於九十年底完成水源保護區養豬戶拆遷補償後，歷經一年多來監測高屏溪水質發現，平均氨氮量降幅達一半，已從原本的丙類水質水體標準提升到乙類，大高雄民眾「喝好水」的期待正逐步實現。