Stricter EPA monitoring for Taiwan's wastewater

A new system is to be constructed in Taiwan that will be able to use the internet in order to monitor wastewater, according to the China Post. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is aiming to begin construction of the online system later this month that will enable the flow of wastewater from industrial properties and power plants to be accurately monitored.

The system will work in real time, allowing the EPA to monitor all wastewater that is being treated and released. This will allow it to assess whether companies are meeting with all wastewater regulations. The announcement of the new system follows on from a report that revealed many individual commercial and industrial businesses do not have adequate facilities to prevent pollution. Many of these businesses are in violation of pollution regulations, which includes improper treatment and discharging of possibly polluted wastewater in high quantities.

The new system will allow the EPA to perform a stronger level of monitoring of the wastewater being discharged by Taiwanese companies, which could help to reduce the amount of potentially harmful pollution being released incorrectly. The continuously online system will connect the EPA to local governments' environmental protection bureaus. The monitoring will be automatic, allowing for immediate updates of wastewater discharges occurring at different sites.

There will be two stages to the construction of the new system. The initial phase should reach completion by July next year and will be used to monitor wastewater quantities above 10,000 cubic metres to ensure they meet regulations, along with industrial park wastewater discharges of at least 2,000 cubic meters.

The second phase of construction will create the system to monitor the wastewater from power plants and commercial firms of at least 15,000 cubic metres. It is hoped that before the end of 2014 the new system will be monitoring around 56.8 per cent of all wastewater throughout Taiwan.  

The system will be able to analyse several factors in relation to wastewater regulations, including chemical oxygen demand, pH levels, temperature, quantity, conductivity and suspended solids.