December 16, 2004
The Ministry of the Environment has put together the results of the nationwide water quality survey of public water areas implemented by the national and local governments in FY 2003 pursuant to the Water Pollution Control Law.
Most of the monitoring points have achieved the environmental quality standards (hereinafter referred to as the "EQSs") for the 26 human health items, with the EQS compliance rate reaching 99.3% (Table 1). In terms of the compliance with the EQSs for BOD and COD, typical indicators of water quality for organic contamination, the overall compliance rate was 83.8%, reaching record-high, with 87.4% for rivers, 55.2% for lakes and reservoirs and 76.2% for sea and coastal areas. In enclosed water areas such as lakes and reservoirs, the compliance rate remains low (Table 2, Figs. 1 & 2).
The EQS compliance rate for total nitrogen and total phosphorus in lakes and reservoirs is still at a low level. The compliance rate for total nitrogen has shown downward trend while total phosphorus has shown an improvement. As for sea and coastal areas, the EQS compliance rates for total nitrogen and total phosphorus have been over 70 % since FY 1998, and hovered around the 80% level since FY 2001 (Figs. 3 & 4).
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