Premier Jiang Yi-huah today directed the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) to proactively implement sewer construction in order to achieve the policy objective of raising household sewerage connection rates by 18 percent from 2009 to 2014 as outlined in the i-Taiwan 12 Projects, noting that the fourth-phase program's deadline—the end of this year—is fast approaching.
Jiang, who made these remarks after an MOI report on the project's progress at today's Cabinet meeting, instructed the ministry to persist in implementing energy-conservation measures at wastewater treatment plants and assist local governments in enhancing the operations and management of public sewer systems to improve controls and oversight over the entire lifecycle of wastewater treatment plants.
As the number of households connected to a public sewer system increases, the volume of sludge in the sewers will also surge, Jiang noted. He therefore directed the MOI to expeditiously formulate measures for reducing and recycling sludge.
MOI statistics on sewer construction from 2009 to 2013 are as follows:
- The public sewer penetration rate surged from 22.59 percent to 35.14 percent.
- The specific sanitary sewer penetration rate rose from 13.85 percent to 14.8 percent.
- The proportion of buildings with wastewater treatment facilities increased from 12.23 percent to 19.53 percent.
- The overall wastewater treatment rate was hiked from 48.66 percent to 69.48 percent.
- The number of households connected to sewer systems reached 2,053,559.
Sewer construction will continue to be carried out by the MOI based on the following concepts:
- Project sustainability: To lower the fiscal burden of a project, its entire lifecycle, from construction to operations, is planned at once.
- Cross-domain integration: Projects with different focuses are integrated to maximize sewer efficacy and value.
- Cleaner production: Environmentally friendly materials are employed to achieve the goals of energy conservation and carbon reduction, turning black water into "blue gold" in line with worldwide environmental protection trends.