In August 2016, cadmium-tainted rice was once again detected in Hemei, Changhua, threatening farmland with heavy metal contamination

In the Changhua and Hemei area, where heavy metal contamination has been reported repeatedly, a cadmium rice incident has occurred once again! Cadmium-contaminated rice was detected again recently in the East-West Erzhen and Sanzhen irrigation channel watersheds. Last month, the Agriculture and Food Agency conducted routine sampling and found that farmland near Hemei had cadmium levels exceeding the standard. In one 1-fen rice paddy area, cadmium was detected at 0.43 PPM; all of it has now been destroyed. The Changhua County Environmental Protection Bureau has collected soil samples from nearby areas and sent them for testing, with results not yet released.

Of Taiwan's contaminated farmland, 60 percent is in Changhua

Of all contaminated farmland in Taiwan, 60 percent is in Changhua, which is also the only area in Taiwan found to be simultaneously contaminated with excessive levels of eight heavy metals: cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, zinc, mercury, nickel and arsenic. In 2013, the Changhua District Prosecutors Office uncovered electroplating businesses burying hidden pipes to discharge wastewater, affecting 1,800 hectares of farmland, of which 327 hectares were suspected of contamination, and 45 hectares of farmland were taken out of cultivation with crops destroyed.

Beginning in 2013, the Changhua Environmental Protection Bureau conducted a systematic investigation of specific irrigation zones, and in 2015 designated the "East-West Erzhen and Sanzhen Farmland Catchment Area Water Pollution Total Quantity Control Zone," totaling 1,350 hectares. In the future, wastewater discharge permits will no longer be issued to factories, which amounts to banning all newly established factories from locating there, and stricter management has been imposed on wastewater discharge from old factories, in the hope of curbing pollution.

The area where cadmium rice was detected this time falls within the East-West Erzhen and Sanzhen zone, covering 0.1 hectares. Although the detected cadmium level of 0.43 PPM is not considered very high (the standard is 0.4 PPM), the Environmental Protection Bureau had just announced at the beginning of the month that the water quality compliance rate of the East-West Sanzhen had risen to 96%, and cadmium rice contamination was detected immediately afterward, showing that residual soil contamination or ongoing contamination has not disappeared.

Yang Hsin-yi, section chief of the Changhua Water Quality Protection Section, explained that the heavy metal cadmium has a high affinity for rice, and in the acidic environment of paddy soil, cadmium is especially easily adsorbed. Currently, Changhua has not implemented separation of irrigation and drainage channels; the industrial waste discharged by factories, domestic water, and irrigation water are not separated, making it difficult for them not to affect one another.

Yang Hsin-yi acknowledged that to thoroughly solve the problem, factories must be completely relocated into industrial zones; only then can the problem possibly be solved. Without centralized management, the risk of pollution will always exist.

Agriculture and Food Agency personnel said that the land previously contaminated by cadmium rice in Hemei had all been left fallow. This batch of contaminated rice was newly discovered this year and was from the first crop just harvested. However, the Ministry of Health and Welfare believes that the cadmium rice contamination standard is 0.4 ppm, and 0.43 ppm still falls within the acceptable range. But the Agriculture and Food Agency believes that this value is indeed on the high side, and for safety considerations, the entire batch of rice has been destroyed. For the next rice crop, a larger area of the same parcel of land will be sampled and tested.

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