2.1 Major sources of water pollution

     Families, industries, and livestock farms are three major sources of water pollution in Taiwan. In addition, minor sources are wastewater seeping from garbage grounds and non-fixed sources. The EPA statistics showed that in 1991, 77 percent of the total emission amount of wastewater were from industries and livestock farms. However this percentage was declining. It was 70 percent in 1992, 65 percent in 1993, 63 percent in 1994, and 60 percent in 1995. (EPA, 1996: 165) This tendency indicates that family wastewater gradually became the largest source in recent years. Before going on to discuss industrial wastewater, I will mention briefly about the treatment of wastewater from family and animal husbandry.

     The basic solution for treating family wastewater is to build sewage. However, the progress of building sewerage in Taiwan's urban areas was rather slow. In 1982 only 6.4 percent Taipei City's population were served by wastewater sewerage and the percentages in Kaohsiung City and Taiwan Province were less than 1 percent. A plan drawn up in 1984 expected to raise the percentage in Taipei and Kaohsiung Cities to 48 percent and in Taiwan Province to 24 percent. In 1991 the rate for Taipei City increased to 17.5 percent, far below what it was expected. (Liu Ts'ui-jung and Liu Shi-yung, 1992: 490) In the six-year national construction plan initiated in 1991, it was proposed to raise the rate in the Taiwan area from 3 percent to 14 percent. (Chung-kuo shih-pao, 1991/07/26/5) In early 1999, the rate in Taipei City reached 41.5 percent, in Kaohsiung City 6.5 percent and on average in the Taiwan area 5.6 percent. (Chung-kuo shih-pao, 1999/03/15/17) Even so, compared with many European countries where the rate was usually more than 80 percent, the situation in Taiwan was rather backward. (Liu Ts'ui-jung and Liu Shi-yung, 1992: 490)

     As for wastewater produced by animal husbandry, particularly by pig farms, control focused mainly on large-scale farms. In 1986 when urgent measures were taken to deal with the issue of pollution along the southwestern coast, the Council of Economic Planning and Development expressed that the work of water pollution control should not stress only on industrial wastewater. In 1987 when the Department of Health started to plan for the renovation of the Tamsui River, pig farms and factories were both taken as focal points for improvements. (Tzu-you shih-pao, 1987/05/01/3) However, officials had different opinions about the seriousness of pollution caused by pigs.