EPB Acts on Pollution After Pictures Exposed on Social Media

[Cover Picture: Facebook user 張仁吉]

Pingtung County Environmental Protection Bureau will will levy fines on eight livestock farms, after tracing the source of raw manure that fouled-up a drainage channel in Wandan Township, Pingtung County.

The Environmental Protection Bureau acted after pictures were posted on Facebook April 2. The original poster wrote in Chinese “when you’re angry, you tell people to eat shit! I will say: “Welcome to Pingtung!””

Facebook users responding to the post questioned whether the EPB was turning a blind eye to the problem.

Pingtung Environmental Protection Bureau denied they were asleep at the wheel during the 4-day Qingming long weekend. The bureau sent 9 inspectors to the scene and traced the source of the pollution to 2 pig farms and 6 cattle farms who were releasing untreated waste into the drainage ditches. The operators will be fined between the minimum NT$200,000 and maximum NT$20 million.

The EPB said that inspectors were on duty 24 hours every day, even on national holidays. There are 12 inspectors employed with 2 teams working the day shift, and one team at night.

Picture of a river of feces in Pingtung County, Taiwan
A picture of a heavily polluted channel in Pingtung County. The EPB responded after the picture was uploaded to Facebook.

News Source: United Daily News

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