Drinking Water A Blueprint for Life / 生飲水 即將兌現的生活藍圖
From October 2003, there will be no more disinfectant added to Kaohsiung's water supply so that the people can enjoy higher quality drinking water from now on.
This exciting news is the product of a big effort from Kaohsiung City Government, with NT $150 billion in support funding from central government. It has been 5 years since the work began in 1998 for the transformation of Kaohisung's water supply.
Water quality improvement must be planned and managed
The purpose is to let the people of Kaoshiung have a good quality water supply. The most important policy is cut down the number of pigs within the Kaoping river water quallity protection zones, through which the pollution caused by pig-raising industry may be significantly reduced, which obstructs contamination and turbidity at the origin in the river. The water company will draw water from the upper reaches and also the Tainan Nanhwa Reservoir to bring better quality water into Kaoping Diversion Weir. Moreover, there is another important engineering project, which is to eliminate the silt under Chengchin Lake, and finally to build three advanced water treatment facilities. These engineering works have a momentous cost of NT $150 billion.
Establishing Water Purifying Processors, Kaohsiung will become the only city in Taiwan without 'Chlorine'.
The three advanced water treatment facilities have a total budget of NT $24.6 billion.
Mayor Hsieh confidently says 'All the engineering work are ahead of schedule, after the advanced water treatment facilities are complete, Kaohsiung city will be the only city in Taiwan not using chlorine for water disinfecting by using post-ozonation to oxide residual organics and disinfect and using biological activated carbon filter to reduce residual organics and improve taste of water.
He also quotes 'Drinking from Kaohsiung's best quality water will be safer than buying mineral water. There are not known health effects associated with hardness in drinking water. Water containing under 150㎎/L concentrations of hardness is called soft to medium hard water, yet Kaohsiung City used to have over 400 hardness in drinking water. Soon after the advanced water treatment facilities start working, not only will the taste of Kaohsiung's water would be improved, but also residual chlorine for ensuring the water remains clean as it is transported through the distribution system and into our homes and business.
The three advanced water treatment facilities with output capacities of 740,000 cubic meter per day of high quality water for the residents of Kaohsiung.
Kaohsiung's drinking water is not a dream
This July, Mr. Yu Shyi-Kun, the premier of The Executive Yuan for the 4th time, came down to the south to see the water improvement project. Progress as a whole was ahead by 2%. The success of the engineering of Kaoping Diversion Weir has reduced disinfecting costs by 40%. As long as the engineering of the silt under Chengchin Lake and the union liaison net in Nanhwa Reservoir are completed, Kaohsiung people will have their own clean water supply to use.
The future target is to improve the water supply to 'Drinking water', which will eventually be achieved. The premier, Yu Shyi-Kun, is behind the project, and is backing the teams to solve the problems being caused by the old water pipes and clear water reservoirs. In the beginning, the attention for the workers will be on the new "Rapid Transit System", tourism and schools. At the end of the project, attention will turn to water quality, and drinking water will be gradually realized as blue print for life.
今年十月，高雄水不再有消毒味，市民可以享用高品質飲用水一樣的水質。
這是一個令人興奮的消息，在高雄市府團隊的努力下，獲得中央150億的援助；自1998年以來，經過五年多全力的投入，「高雄的水」的確有了徹底的改善。
改善水質步步為營
為了要讓高雄人喝到好水，近年來努力的重大工程包括成功執行了「高屏溪兩岸離牧政策」先阻斷了水源部的污染；而另外水公司還將原水取水口上移，同時聯通台南南化水庫，將純淨品質較高的原水引入高屏溪攔河堰。另外，還有項非常重要的工程就是清除澄清湖水底泥；最後則是興建三座高級淨水處理廠，這些重大的工程總共斥資了150億元。
成立淨水廠 高雄市成了唯一「無氯」城市
三座高級淨水廠經費佔了24.6億元。
「所有的工程都以超前的進度進行，未來高級淨水廠一旦完工，將以臭氧進行消毒及以活性碳去除殘留有機物及提升口感，屆時高雄市將成為唯一不用氯消毒的城市。」謝市長有自信的說。
「將來飲用高雄的自來水絕對會比市售的礦泉水更安全！儘管水的硬度對人體的健康無害，且硬度以150度以下係屬軟至適中，過去港都的水硬度就曾高達400度，不過現在只要淨水廠運轉後，不但可以直接改變高雄自來水的飲用口感外，當淨化廠將水送至各家戶時，還添加了另一道淨水防線─殘氣，這些殘氣可以有效去除水中黴菌、細菌，根除自來水中的雜質。」謝市長進一步說明。
三座高級淨水廠未來每天可供應74萬噸高級水供給大高雄居民飲用。
高雄「生飲水」不是夢
今年七月，行政院長游錫 第四度南下關注水質改善工程，整體進度不但超前百分之二，去年攔河堰工程的完成，降低了40%的消毒成本，加上澄清湖底泥清除及南化水庫聯通網等工程完成，今年十月高雄人就會擁有乾淨的水質。
然而，未來將朝「生飲水」的標準而努力，對於解決老舊水管及蓄水池問題，游錫 院長也特別期許相關單位再接再厲，初期將以捷運站、觀光飲店、學校...等公共場所為優先改善目標，生飲水是一個可逐漸兌現的生活藍圖。