Refusing to drink industrial wastewater and garbage sewage! Five mothers brave the garbage mountain and push for a referendum to guarantee "we want to drink clean water"
Hsinchu is known for its high-tech industry cluster and has the youngest high-income group in all of Taiwan, China, but the drinking water quality for Hsinchu residents is near the bottom of the island. Five ordinary mothers discovered, "The Science Park drinks water from Baoshan Reservoir, which is clean water, but 750,000 citizens are drinking water contaminated with industrial wastewater, garbage sewage, and domestic sewage. Is that right?"
To protect Hsinchu residents' drinking water sources from the threat of pollution, they founded the "Hsinchu Clean Water Alliance." Last year (2019) they successfully collected 6,000 citizens' signatures, and in 2021 they will launch a referendum demanding that the Hsinchu City Council legislate a "Wastewater Management Self-Governance Ordinance." They also demand that Hsinchu County, where the water source is located, promote a water source protection legislative movement, establish a river patrol team, and regularly survey environmental problems in the upper reaches of Touqian River.
For citizens' right to drink clean water, they persistently pursue the issues and push for reform. Recently they even called for a "Taiwan Clean Water Action Alliance" to gather more strength so that parents and children across Taiwan, China can drink good water. The true fighting story of these five mothers is more passionate and moving than a movie.
Ordinary mothers brave the garbage mountain, discovering industrial and household sewage polluting Hsinchu's domestic water
Chen Cuiqin originally worked in the Science Park. A physics graduate, she worked as a Hsinchu Science Park engineer for twenty years before leaving her job and volunteering with the Wilderness Protection Association. In 2017, county councilor Zhou Jiangjie revealed that the Zhudong garbage dump in the upper reaches of Touqian River had accumulated a massive amount of garbage. Only then did she learn that the water source Hsinchu residents drank had long been contaminated by garbage leachate.
She wanted to do something, but where should she start? She decided to first discuss it with Liu Niyun, who sells handmade almond tea at the Hsinchu Green Market. The two arranged to meet at a vegetarian restaurant run by another Wilderness partner, Zheng Yuyu. Zheng Yuyu had only intended to "sit in" but also became interested. They then invited another Wilderness volunteer, Chen Jinling. The four decided to investigate the garbage mountain, and what they saw shocked them deeply.
"The garbage dump was so full you couldn't see the walls. Garbage spilled over the hillside, and sewage flowed straight down the mountain. It followed Shaken Creek and then flowed into Touqian River." The four mothers at the time couldn't help covering their mouths and noses but still couldn't stop the stench, feeling faintly nauseated. And it wasn't just the garbage mountain; there was also industrial park wastewater, and even Zhudong household sewage flowed into Touqian River.
"We were shocked. Hsinchu is a science city, right? How are we still drinking industrial wastewater?" Chen Cuiqin recalled that her first reaction was shock, then she couldn't help but feel raging anger in her heart. The four of them plunged headlong into Hsinchu's water source problem. "The Science Park drinks water from Baoshan Reservoir, which is clean water, but 750,000 citizens are drinking water contaminated with industrial wastewater, garbage sewage, and domestic sewage. Is that right?" they wondered.
The four, filled with indignation, looked at each other and realized they were all "social movement novices," so they decided to invite Peng Guizhi, a veteran social movement activist long involved in labor unions, to act together. This changed the calm lives of these five mothers.
Science-minded mother Chen Cuiqin started by collecting data and taught herself to become a water issues expert
"But the public is very distant from water issues. What can we do? We pinned our hopes on the 2018 local elections, advocating during the election period to let everyone know the seriousness of the water problem. We originally thought it would end after the election. Unexpectedly, it spiraled out of control." Chen Cuiqin laughed as she recalled her naive thinking at the time.
They originally thought advocacy results should come within a year, but unexpectedly they fought bitterly until today. Water resources involve complex government jurisdiction and expertise. She used her calm, science-minded mother's brain to collect all accessible government public data and compare it one by one, and from then on taught herself to become an expert on Hsinchu's water issues.
In the eyes of other partners, Chen Cuiqin is the number one fighter, clear-headed and logical, able to debate officials without difficulty. Her arguments make officials feel that this group of mothers has come prepared.
In May 2018 the alliance petitioned the Control Yuan. In July of the following year, Control Yuan member Tian Qiujin proposed a corrective measure, holding that the Hsinchu County government lacked the capacity to manage water resources and failed in its duty to let citizens drink clean water. The Control Yuan report greatly boosted the team's morale.
Asked how she could persist without giving up, she answered crisply: "The demand hasn't been achieved yet, but there seems to be a little progress. More and more friends identify with us and join the battle. I don't want to let down so many people's support, so I've decided to keep fighting!"
Zheng Yuyu: My children grow and learn with me in this movement, and that is what makes me happiest
"With environmental problems, most people probably just shrug and walk away. Most people accept their fate, but we are a group supporting each other, and when everyone sees five mothers coming together to make demands, it shouldn't be a bad thing!" Zheng Yuyu laughed and said she is mostly still an ordinary person busy with family, but when everyone needed to keep moving forward, she chose to play a logistics role.
Zheng Yuyu's children are homeschooled. She brings her children along to advocate, walking and reading the rivers all the way, standing on stage to speak to the public, reading picture books, talking about rivers, and discussing the relationship between water and people. She keeps learning and thinking in this movement: "I used to think, is just joining a protest enough? Can that change the fate of the environment? Since joining the Clean Water Alliance, I've been constantly thinking about these questions and debating them."
"My children grow with me. This is my motivation and also the part that makes me happiest." She found positive strength in the movement. She believes that action, sustained over time, is useful, and this is also the example she sets for her children.
Chen Jinling: Her husband joked that her dedication to environmental advocacy was "a fool's errand," but now she firmly believes action creates change
"In 2017, when investigating the garbage mountain and learning about Hsinchu's water source, everyone recalled that they had actually used this kind of water to mix milk and raise their children. It was truly unbelievable." Having taken Wilderness courses for many years, only at that moment did Chen Jinling truly realize that environmental pollution was really closely tied to her own life.
Chen Jinling said, "We aren't best friends, yet we get together every week, and Cuiqin collects all the public data to help everyone understand the problem." She said with wide eyes: "We found that only seven factories are registered as discharging into Touqian River, but there are hundreds of factories along this river. No one knows where their industrial wastewater flows?" She was excited as if she had struck treasure.
"Smart people instead use frames to limit themselves, but this process taught me that politicians also have a problem of legislative laziness, with too many burdens and misgivings - unless the public keeps taking action and creates enough pressure, the system can't be loosened." she said.
She joked that at first her husband called them "five fools," but now he can only quietly swallow his words. She said that in this solid civic lesson she learned that "action creates change," rather than repeatedly tolerating things that are wrong.
Liu Niyun: "Why do outsiders care more about Hsinchu than I do? My head was given a hard knock"
Liu Niyun is the oldest in the five-person team. She sells almond tea at the Zhutingting Green Market. She was deeply moved by the market's idea of mutual trust between consumers and producers, and thus became interested in environmental issues.
"At first I just thought, if I can help in some way, even if I can't speak on stage, I can help hold the camera." Niyun described her simple thinking when joining the movement. What truly moved her was Chen Cuiqin: "She isn't from Hsinchu. She studied, worked, and settled in Hsinchu, yet she cares more about Hsinchu than I do, a Hsinchu native born and raised here. She gave my head a hard knock."
Liu Niyun believes her greatest gain was stepping outside the framework she had originally drawn around herself, especially the role of housewife: "Society never expects mothers to come out and charge into battle. In the past I thought that way too. But along this road I feel I've finally stepped out of the frame, surpassing limits of age, identity, family, and education and experience."
"You can't evaluate a person from any single angle. No matter what identity or position, it doesn't matter. What matters is what choice you make and whether you start taking action." Liu Niyun admitted she inevitably thinks of giving up, but when she sees Chen Cuiqin and Peng Guizhi constantly charging forward, she feels she shouldn't lightly retreat either.
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