To understand the progress local governments are making on technology enforcement and discuss relevant developments, the Ministry of Environment co-hosted the “Ministry of Environment Consultation Conference on Technology Enforcement and Administrative Remedy” with the Environmental Protection Bureau, Nantou County Government on May 3, 2024. Led by Deputy Minister Chih-Hsiu Shen of Ministry of Environment, along with Director Fen Lin of the Department of Legal Affairs, Department of Director Bing-Hui Xie of Department of Monitoring and Information, Director Jin-Xin Chen of Department of Accounting, and members of Ministry of Environment Legal Affairs Committee and Petitions and Appeals Committee, the conference focused on the trending topic of technology enforcement and associated legal issues. Through discussion and experience sharing amongst the delegates, this conference is expected to reduce future controversies on technology enforcement. Deputy Magistrate Rui-De Wang of Nantou County was also in attendance to share his opinions on the issue. Besides sharing applications and progress on water, land and air technology enforcement, the Environmental Protection Bureau also arranged for an on-site introduction and observation at Ita Thao Pier, Sun Moon Lake. The conference was a great success.
The Environmental Protection Bureau expressed its pleasure that officials from the Ministry of Environment visited Nantou for inspections and observations. Nantou County has implemented a variety of water, land, and air applications of technology enforcement, especially as the well-known tourist attraction, the Sun Moon Lake, has been officially classified as an Air Quality Protection Region (henceforth referred to as AQPR) on November 1, 2023, becoming the first AQPR in Nantou County. As a result, the Environmental Protection Bureau has installed a license plate recognition system at the entrances and exits of the lake which is linked to a program to identify if vehicles meet the criteria of the control region. Also, another 6 micro-sensors were installed to monitor the surrounding air quality of Sun Moon Lake.
As for the water quality of Sun Moon Lake, the Environmental Protection Bureau announced the “Nantou County Tightened Wastewater Discharging Standard on Wastewater Discharged into Sun Moon Lake Reservoir” on March 23, 2023 which monitors wastewater discharged by hotels in accordance to the most stringent levels in the nation. Moreover, by August 2023, it also utilized smart IoT sensor technology by installing 3 water quality monitors around Sun Moon Lake (Shuishe Pier, Ita Thao Pier and Chaowu Pier) which monitored water quality parameters such as water temperature, pH value, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen and others that informs us of the water quality. Since the installation of water quality monitors at Sun Moon Lake, no anomalies regarding the water quality have been observed and no hotels have caused water quality contamination. On the other hand, noises made by vehicles around Sun Moon Lake may severely affect the accommodation quality and tourist perception. Therefore, the Environmental Protection Bureau has installed permanent acoustic cameras in major hot zones. Violators would be fined if pictures were taken by acoustic cameras in order to reduce negative effects caused by noise-creating modified vehicles.
Director-general Yi-Shu Li of the Environmental Protection Bureau shared that besides monitoring practicing at Sun Moon Lake, relevant monitoring measures have also been applied on construction sites, dredging works and factory sites. The Environmental Protection Bureau has also invested in many technological applications such as micro-sensors connected to automatic sprinklers, raising dust identification system, dump bed covering identification system, drones installed with image processing technology to identify stacking volume and so on. The Environmental Protection Bureau expected that it could reduce personnel demand and create higher efficiency with the application of technology and gradually pursue the goal of sustainable environment.
Contact Unit: Air and Noise Pollution Control Section, Environmental Protection Bureau
Contact Person: Section Chief Ru-Jie Lin 049-2237530 EXT 2211
