Meinong Residents Oppose Deep Water Well Construction, Self-Rescue Association Declaration: Clean Water Exported but Brings Air Pollution in Return
(Legislator Chiu Yi-ying, to resolve the dispute, specially used her position as convener of the Economics Committee to convene a coordination meeting, requiring representatives of the Water Resources Agency and the Taiwan Water Corporation to attend. She stressed that she had already demanded in July that the Taiwan Water Corporation halt work, and that the company's drilling of deep wells this time was tantamount to a smuggling operation.)
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[Statement from the Self-Rescue Association Against the Construction of Deep Water Wells]
"Protect groundwater! Defend the right to survival!": Resolutely oppose the resumption of pumping from deep water wells and the addition of new projects
The Nanlong area of Meinong is an area abundant in groundwater. Farmers' lives and production have long coexisted with groundwater, and both domestic and irrigation needs rely on groundwater. This year there have already been two months of a predicament in which farmers could not pump water. Dozens of hectares of farmland at the village head could not get water, and the farmers could only watch their crops die, speechless as they questioned heaven.
Water is the lifeline of agriculture and rural villages. Protecting groundwater is just as important as protecting farmland. Water belongs to everyone; it is not for the government to take away just because it says so. The Taiwan Water Corporation is high-handed and domineering, using public funds to resume pumping from ten wells and drill eight more 70-zhang, two-hundred-meter deep water wells. After completion, it is expected to extract 100,000 tons of groundwater per day, which has already severely threatened the livelihood security of local residents. Because of the enormous impact of this project on domestic and agricultural water use, local residents have formed the "Self-Rescue Association Against the Construction of Deep Water Wells," resolutely oppose the construction, and strongly demand that the competent authorities immediately halt all construction!
The self-rescue association also put forward three demands:
(1) Protect groundwater, defend the right to survival
Groundwater is a matter of the right to survival for generations; it is also an important resource for residents to live and work in peace and contentment in Meinong. The Taiwan Water Corporation says the well-drilling project has already passed the environmental impact assessment procedure and is entirely legal. We believe there are serious flaws in the public opinion survey procedure! The project site is adjacent to our village, yet villagers were forced to bear the consequences without knowing anything at all. We in Meinong, and indeed villagers in every village, will never sit and wait for death!
(2) Clean water exported, air pollution in return
Faced with climate change and rainfall during the dry season decreasing year by year, the Taiwan Water Corporation has actually acted perversely, forcefully carrying out the deep water well project and destroying precious groundwater resources formed over a thousand years, all just to supply water for expanded production capacity at the Renwu and Dashe petrochemical industries and the No. 3 Naphtha Cracker planned by the Economic Development Bureau of the Kaohsiung City Government, creating more air pollution to poison the citizens of greater Kaohsiung. For the health of the citizens of greater Kaohsiung, we resolutely oppose transferring water rights to highly polluting industry!
(3) Wrong policy, hold those responsible to account
We hope the Kaohsiung City Government will clearly reply: what exactly is Kaohsiung's sustainable water resource policy? Kaohsiung falls within the "high water shortage risk area" defined by the Water Resources Agency. With water resources tight and air pollution severe, why forcefully promote the expansion of the petrochemical industry? Climate change makes water resources ever more precious. The Kaohsiung City Government did not seek public opinion, agreed to the Taiwan Water Corporation's water rights, and excavated precious groundwater resources to export for petrochemical industrial use. Those responsible for the wrong policy must be held to account.
Chair: Jihe Village Chief Liu Fu-chi
Vice Chair: Ligang Township Residents' Representative Chuang Ching-ho Representative Jiyang Village Chief Tseng Shun-chang
Jidong Village Chief Tseng Hsin-pao Qingshui Village Chief Huang Te-hsiang
Secretary-General: Mr. Tu Te-lung 0929-039606
Mr. Chen Shun-hsien 0911-168095