The story has a familiar angle to it: local politicians, as well as their constituents, have differing perceptions of important facts. In this case, the focus is on Love River, actually more a combination tidal estuary and drainage canal, which passes through the main part of the city. A center of controversy for many years due to a growing pollution problem, the river has been undergoing a decade-long clean-up program. The first stage of the river reclamation construction was finished last December. While a healthy step in the right direction, the winds started swaying the tall tree when Mayor Su—popularly known as "Big-Head" Su, because of a large cranium not arrogance—announced after only three months that the Love River had been successfully rejuvenated.
"During that period of time we walked along the river bank everyday, hoping that the water would clean up and that some fish, or any marine creature big or small—anything—could be spotted," the mayor recalls.
Along with the reclamation of the river itself, there is a series of plans to beautify and "romanticize" the river's banks. These include a fine arts park, a Kaohsiung Elysee, and a promenade for the enjoyment of couples young and old. Essential parts of Su's idea for improving the quality of life in the city, the ideas were attractive indeed to his constituents. But the energetic mayor, who claimed that he "couldn't live without love," found himself and his dreams in the midst of a whirlwind as soon as he announced that the river reclamation was an unqualified success. Reactions to the event received island-wide publicity, signalling a grassroots surge of interest in conservation matters.
Sewage treatment— additional plants will solve river problems.
After a close look at the facts, it is clear that both sides of the issue have substantial arguments. First of all, everyone recognizes the problem itself. There is universal agreement that Love River needs to be cleaned up. Following decades of having a sewer instead of a real river flowing through their City, residents are anxious to have it return to a cleaner, more aesthetically appealing condition. But it has seemed an impossible dream, and no more possible than for one to recover a lost love after years of disappointment and heartbreak. Yet, like that long-awaited phone call with a familiar voice from the past, the mayor's announcement stirred surprise and happiness. For the skeptics, however, the story sounded more like something from the Arabian Nights. They felt they were being treated like children, and being deprived of access to the truth.
These skeptics doubted the credibility of the news, or at least the degree of the clean-up success. They found similar orientations among some of the city councilmen, who particularly questioned the speed of the river's change back to normal. They cited the difficulties of reclamation experienced by other countries, and the long time it took for nature to recover satisfactorily after human attempts to correct their long-term degradation of the environment. One city councilman expressed a representative point of view: "The success of the River Thames reclamation works was withheld for 15 years before it was announced, yet the city government here hurried to announce the success of the Love River reclamation only three months after the formal correction of the sewerage system." He added, well in the mainstream of political rhetoric, that the city government's attitude on this issue "well reveals its attempt to divert people's attention away from mistakes it had made on other issues." The infighting of the democratic process is obviously alive and well in Kaohsiung.
Local governmental practices allow formal "interpellations" of government officials about their policies and statements. Besides presenting clear fact-finding opportunities, these often become heated affairs, and a source of glee for observers and newsmen alike. Thus, on the opening day of the city council session following the mayor's controversial announcement, one councilman proposed to accompany the mayor to the banks of the Love River to demonstrate the reason why so many people were upset, if not furious, about the claims of success. In a remarkable departure from normal procedure, the mayor, councilmen, and journalists trooped out of city hall to the banks of the river where they found workers under a hot sun collecting accumulated piles of garbage floating on the river. Accompanying the repugnant flotsam was a distinctly foul smell that engulfed both the official "inspectors" and the grounds of a junior high school adjacent to the river. The students were especially critical about the city's claim because they were still fighting its stench and mosquitoes as early as March, long before the truly hot months of summer.
First stage reclamation success—now cleaner waters flow through the city.
Was the huge reclamation budget wasted? The facts suggest otherwise. So far, more than US$1 billion has been spent on an extensive new sewerage system for the city, plus another US$17 million on river reclamation projects. The sewerage construction focused on establishing an effective collection, treatment, and disposal system for sewage and waste water produced in the river's tributary area. The design plans call for this to be integrated with the river reclamation projects that include interceptor stations, riverbed dredging, bank protection, and slum clearance. The latter is coupled with new housing development also underway in the city.
Most of this infrastructure must be in place and functional before the succeeding stages of river reclamation can make much progress. But the initial construction did not have high visibility, primarily because the majority of the work was underground, away from the sight of the city's citizens. Thus, the most difficult parts of the construction job, paving underground sewers and building a submarine outfall, created minimal inconvenience and was accomplished with little public awareness of the process. Daily commuters had little idea of the difficult and dangerous work underway clay and night as much as 100 feet beneath them.
Out of sight, out of mind. Because people did not sec the physical results of the construction provided by the huge budget, they became concerned about the effective use of their tax money The criticisms of the claimed "rejuvenation" were drawn into sharper focus by yet another announcement from the mayor's office the annual Dragon Boat Races would once again be held on Love River
This brought back unhappy memories. Up to 21 years ago, the river and its banks were crowded with spectators and participants during the popular summertime event. But the races of 1966 created a furor. As part of the celebrations, a navy demolition team demonstrated its capabilities by setting off an underwater explosion, sending a gigantic spray of water into the air. While this would normally be an exciting finale to an aquatic event, the results were spectacularly unsavory. A number of foreign dignitaries had been invited to view the traditional program and, along with their embarrassed hosts, they were showered with filthy water, staining their clothes and dampening their spirits. The essentially negative event had a positive side: Love River clean-up plans began in earnest. But people are still sensitive about the issue, and do not want a repeat due to premature claims of river cleanliness. They think it makes no sense to move the races back to the river from their temporary home on a nearby lake at the risk of both the citizens' face and the public health.
This view has received considerable official support from another quarter. Laboratory tests of river water quality by the city government's Sanitation Bureau show that the bacterial counts found in the river water tested tens-or-thousands to hundreds-of-thousands times higher than swimming pool standards. News of this low level of water quality prompted critics to suggest that there was more than meets the eye about the real purpose behind the city government's encouragement of various public figures to swim in the river and personally test its quality! The mayor responded to these concerns by finally barring anyone from swimming in the river without city government permission. But even this policy added fuel to criticism, strengthening the impression that the river rejuvenation claims were blanketing other information about the whole project.
Whether or not this criticism is true remains to be seen, but the diligent efforts of the city government should not be underestimated. In addition to persuading the Central Government to approve the budget for the cleanup project, city officials have responded to their constituents' deep-seated nostalgia for the river's lost beauty. All Kaohsiung's people look forward to the return of fish, crabs, and other marine life to a body of clean water.
Famed leap—councilman tests clean river water.
The controversy surrounding the Love River reclamation process illustrates a significant alteration in the public's consciousness of environmental protection issues. This heightened awareness has but a brief history. Observers generally agree that widespread concern about conservation-related problems did not make much headway until a series of spontaneous local demonstrations took place in central Taiwan in 1986. Residents in Lukang, Taiwan's second oldest town, united to protest construction of a titanium dioxide plant near the city limits. Lukang had already begun a series of building and street preservation projects to keep its historic flavor, and this community spirit no doubt heightened general environmental concerns. When construction was to begin on the proposed plant without—in the eyes of residents—sufficient public presentation of environmental impact studies, the protests became widespread and vitriolic. As a result, the plans were abandoned, although the plant may eventually be located elsewhere on the Island. Presumably, in the future both officials and the company will pay more attention to local interests in the planning process, a procedure already common in the U. S., for example.
Environmental concerns have translated into yet another high-profile project in northern Taiwan, where the Taiwan Provincial Government is undertaking reclamation of Taipei's Tamsui River, which has also been urged by numerous conservation pressure groups. The Tamsui River will offer even tougher problems. It is many times longer than the Love River and runs through more industrial areas that liberally dump toxic pollutants and wastes into its now oxygen-starved waters. Due to the already encouraging results from Kaohsiung's Love River experience and the advent of what seems to be an era of environmental protection concerns, Taiwan Provincial Governor Chiu Chuang-huan has stated his ambition to bring about the time when "fish and shrimp will again be seen swimming in the Tamsui," He has already announced that the Taiwan Provincial Government has drawn up and begun implementing a comprehensive plan, costing an estimated US$800 million, to rejuvenate within 15 years "the river that can't be any worse polluted."
Based on experience with the Love River, all levels of local government have imposed stricter controls on industrial and agricultural waste water disposal. These have included fines and forcible closure for polluting. Favorable results are beginning to appear. Many previous violators have proposed rectification projects, promising the government to resolve their pollution activities within the time limits set by the new laws and regulations.
Part of the Kaohsiung experience seems to have rubbed off on Taipei based officials as well, for the estimates of time needed to clean up the Tamsui River are considerably longer than the Love River plans. While it is generally acknowledged that Mayor Su's claims were prematurely optimistic, there is no doubt that his critics were dissatisfied primarily with the attitude behind the announcement, which they considered misleading. The city councilmen's interpellations were not directed against the sewerage project per se, but sought instead to inform the public accurately that only the first stage of construction was completed. There is still a long way to go before all is well with the waters of the Love River.
The criticisms of "Big-Head" Su have continued—along with further reclamation work—but after all, "the tall tree is exposed to the strong winds." In some ways, Su's comments are a breath of fresh air. Going against the ancient tradition of wise bureaucratic management caught up in the admonition of "More done, more wrong; less done, less wrong; and nothing done, nothing wrong," the Kaohsiung mayor has sought to galvanize public opinion about a serious conservation issue. Whatever the actual time frame for Love River's return to a state more in line with its romantic name, the first steps have been taken. In the process, the public has become deeply involved, and since it is people themselves who create the most severe environmental problems, their new awareness is a hopeful beginning to solving the chronic problem of unchecked environmental degradation.
"The man braving foul smells"
Chen Chi-tze—director of the Kaohsiung Sewerage Engineering Dept.
Because of his 23-year connection with the Love River clean-up project, Chen Chi-tze has become well-known in Kaohsiung as "the man braving foul smells" The story starts in 1964, just after Chen finished his military service and began working for the Taiwan Provincial Government (TPG). He was sent to evaluate water quality in Kaohsiung Port, the Love River, and adjacent water areas, and reported that the waters were already polluted
In 1967, after the previous year's "dragon boat incident," the mayor asked the TPG for help in solving the river's serious pollution problem. The following year, Chen was assigned to coordinate with the city government in related work on expanding Kaohsiung's port facilities. At this time the initial plans for the Kaohsiung sewerage system were already on the drawing boards, although they were not completed until 1974. Construction work finally began in 1979. Chen, after years of work in Kaohsiung waters, was assigned by TPG to shift over to the river project and coordinate with the city government.
That same year, Kaohsiung was put under direct Jurisdictional control of the Executive Yuan, and responsibility for implementing the plan was moved from the TPG to the city. Aware of Chen's exceptional experience, then mayor Wang Yu-yun insisted on having Chen transferred to work for the Kaohsiung government Because of the TPG's reluctance to release such a valuable employee, Chen finally had to resign. He then became vice director of Kaohsiung's Public Works Bureau, where he was put in charge of the whole sewerage system and river reclamation project. In 1983 the Sewerage Engineering Department was formed and Chen was assigned to lead it.
Oftentimes his work seemed a marathon nightmare. In the early years he personally participated in each stage of the reclamation procedure from field surveys to countless meetings and plan corrections. Because of the program's large scale and contractors' general lack of experience, the construction period seemed too long to the city's residents. The local government's effectiveness became widely criticized. Adding to this pressure was a psychological burden caused by a public promise made by Chen's superiors, who said that they would jump into the river if the program should fall. Further disaster hit in two consecutive years when the construction budgets were cut off, causing work to stop and spirits to fall.
But finally in December of last year, the first stage of sewerage construction was completed and ready for testing. "No one-the mayor, the other engineers, or myself—could sleep the night before the tests," Chen recalls. "If there was even one small defect, the whole project could have been seriously criticized as a failure. And then people would say that over one billion Taiwan dollars had been wasted."
But the tests worked. "After struggling for more than 20 years, the river water at last is cleaning up day by day," Chen says, shaking his head, and revealing a sign of exhaustion at just thinking about the task completed so far. "Yet, the whole project has just begun...."
Indeed, the second phase of the reclamation is barely underway. But its success seems guaranteed because of Chen, "the smelly man of Kaohsiung," and other engineers and workers like him who have spent long hours in trying to bring back life to what was once an ecosystem near death.