Automatic monitoring systems for real-time and regular data on wastewater discharges will be installed at 114 large-scale enterprises around Taiwan, the ROC Environmental Protection Administration said July 4.
All the systems are expected to be in place by next year, the EPA said, adding that in the future, violators of relevant regulations under the Water Pollution Control Act will be subject to fines of up to NT$600,000 (US$20,135).
Currently, many industrial wastewater discharges are examined through manual sampling, with reports being issued once every six months, said Shen I-fu, deputy head of the EPA Department of Water Quality Protection.
“The present method is deficient in terms of gathering real-time and long-term data, so the administration has decided to install the automated equipment to improve the effectiveness of monitoring,” he explained.
Regulations will be amended to require automatic monitoring equipment for the wastewater systems of enterprises discharging more than 15,000 cubic meters daily, as well as for power plants employing wet scrubbers or producing water that has not been cooled, the EPA said. Such instruments are already mandatory for the exclusive sewage systems of industrial zones, though they have not yet been installed everywhere.
“The 114 sites to be monitored account for roughly 50 percent of all the industrial wastewater pollution generated nationwide,” Shen said.
Equipment installation for 48 of Taiwan’s 67 industrial zones, including Hsinchu Science Park and Tainan’s Anping Industrial Park, has already been contracted out, and these systems are expected to be up and running within a year, Shen said.
The wastewater monitoring systems at power plants and large-scale enterprises such as China Steel and Formosa Chemicals & Fibre are forecast to come on line by the end of 2013, he added.
The systems will provide real-time readings of pH levels, temperatures, conductivity and other related data every five minutes, as well as collect hourly information on chemical oxygen demand and ammonia levels, according to Shen.
The automated monitoring equipment will act as an early warning system, allowing for quick response measures in the event of emergency or unusual changes in industrial wastewater discharges, the EPA said.
