180,000 households affected by water pollution to be compensated

180,000 households affected by water pollution to be compensated

2025-12-10

Last month, the water supply of some 180,000 households in New Taipei and Keelung was found to be contaminated with oil. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Taiwan Water Corporation say the source of the pollution has been identified. The utility company will compensate affected households with water bill reductions next year. Let’s hear more.

Lee Chia-jung
Taiwan Water
Taiwan Water is also a victim in this incident. We would like to apologize to all our users. These water bill reductions will be directly deducted from customers’ bills in February and March next year. Our preliminary estimate for losses, including the reductions we’re giving users, comes to just over NT$20 million.

Wang Yueh-bin
Ministry of Environment
From our understanding, the targeted source is an operator who collects waste oil and wastewater. The case is already under investigation, and authorities should be able to confirm details very soon.

Taiwan Water says it activated response measures as soon as the incident was found, switching the source of water to Xinshan Reservoir and other backup sources. The company also cleaned all the relevant equipment, flushed pipes, and intensified monitoring. Recent water quality tests upstream and downstream in the Keelung River have since met drinking-water standards. The Badu Pumping Station will resume operations at 8 a.m. on Dec. 11.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
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#drinking #water #pollution #environment

水污染影響18萬戶! 用污戶將減免水費台水估補償金逾2000萬

2025-12-10

基隆河上游11月27日發現油污，造成汐止、基隆供水地區受影響戶約為18萬戶。今天(10)台水公司和經濟部開記者會，表示已經掌握大量體的污染源，台水公司也將在明年2-3月展開受災戶的補償措施，提供水費減免，估計補償金超過2000萬元。

[[台水董事長李嘉榮]]
“台水公司也是一個苦主啦，水公司在這邊，也很誠摯的對我們的用戶來說聲抱歉，這個水費大概我們會在明年的2月、3月，從用戶的水單直接來扣除，這次我們粗估損失的費用，我剛講我們對用戶的減免，會減免的部分(損失)大概2000多萬”

[[環境部水保司司長王嶽斌]]
“我們所瞭解到的它的這個鎖定的對象，基本上它有在收集相關的廢油污水，這個已經在偵查，而且應該很快可以掌握”

台水董事長李嘉榮表示，事發後第一時間啟動緊急應變，立即停止取水並切換新山水庫及備援水源供應，同步完成設備清洗、管網排水及加密監測作業。近日於基隆河上下游進行多次水質檢測，確認均符合飲用水標準，將於11日上午8時啟動八堵抽水站復抽。

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Lin Yung-chi
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At the National Palace Museum, the gift shop has plenty of creative products to take home with you. Aside from the usual postcards, there’s this silk scarf I’m wearing with the painting Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains. Even the Mao Gongvessel can become a cup holder.

One visitor after seeing an early 20th century batik sarong with bouquet motifs on exhibit said in a post that if the museum made it into a silk scarf, they would definitely buy it. The comments section quickly became a wish list. Someone suggested making the recently trending Treaty of Shimonoseki into a mug or a scarf. Another said that the finely carved snuff bottles would make a beautiful earbud case.

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I think it’s a real selling point. To me, it’s super appealing.

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That vase thing could also be an umbrella stand.

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If your place is big enough, the Mao Gong vessel could be used for incense.

The museum actually saw all of these wishes!

Huang Yung-tai
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Winter is here, so we can make wool scarves. Using these images would be great. And that one suggestion to make an AirPod case from a snuff bottle, I think that would be very effective. Of course, we first have to find a manufacturer and they have to agree. Actually, everyone reached a consensus in record time.

The museum has actually engaged in many unexpected collaborations before, even making a water dispenser. Its collection of cat images over time is a favorite. It has even made snacks.

Huang Yung-tai
Museum deputy director
Penghu has a double heart rock formation. We previously exhibited our meat-shaped rock in Penghu. So how did we combine these two? You are the “flesh of my heart,” or beloved one.

The museum as of October already made more than NT$300 million from its creative products, up 20% from the same period last year. You can’t take the artifacts home with you of course, but you can collect as many of these products as you want!

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Mon to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
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Edtech Taiwan showcases latest in AI-powered educational tools

AI applications are becoming ubiquitous. Now, they are even being used in education. At the Edtech Taiwan expo, the latest in AI-powered educational tools were on display. They included an all-in-one real-time interactive teaching platform that helps teachers prepare lessons, interacts with students in class and even generates real-time questions for students to assess their learning progress. Even learning how to play a sport such as golf can be helped along by AI.

This is an indoor golf driving range that uses simulators and AI-powered projections. The AI assists schools’ track training data and enables players to improve more quickly.

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When you press “generate,” the lesson prep AI will come up with a teaching plan, learning objectives, teaching content and exercises, all to help you prepare well.

The all-in-one real-time interactive teaching platform generates learning objectives, along with practice questions and exercises based on textbooks in various academic fields.

Liu Chin-ming
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The AI can analyze a student’s performance in class. This allows teachers to understand how well the students have grasped their lessons.

After students finish answering questions on tablets, the AI can immediately correct their papers, giving teachers more time to prepare lessons or help students with their weak spots.

Chen I-an
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Sometimes we need to stimulate the students’ curiosity, but that’s quite difficult. So, with the help of AI, we can create some new ways of thinking. However, sometimes after using AI, students may lose focus because they only see the AI’s answer and don’t reflect on the question. Therefore, in class, we still guide the students to integrate their own ideas with AI before they show them to us.

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In my 15 years of teaching, I have always taught Chinese language. In the past, we had to rely on publishers and technology companies for all kinds of hardware and software. But now, every teacher has their own teaching assistant right with them. Teachers can easily use the electronic whiteboard and interactive screens in the classroom to call up their teaching materials and these materials are even customized for them.

Using AI means a much reduced amount of paper consumption, and the customized teaching materials on offer means that students can, as the saying goes, learn twice as much with half the effort.

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Mon to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
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Insider provides insights into green restaurant trends for 2026

Taiwan now boasts more than 540 certified green restaurants. At this year’s Green Dining Guide annual awards, 11 establishments achieved the 3‑Star recognition for the very first time. FTV reporter Stephany Yang sat down with Hannah Macey, from the Sustainable Restaurant Association, to discuss emerging green dining trends and her insights into Taiwan’s sustainable food industry.

Taiwan now has over 540 certified green restaurants. The Green Dining Guide annual awards ceremony honored green and sustainable hospitality businesses.

Taro Ho
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The reason the two chefs won the ambassador title is that they have continuously promoted eco-friendly and sustainable dining. Green dining is not just about making money, it also embodies community care, collaboration with farmers, and food education. Our hope is to bring together more members of the food and beverage industry who are willing to use organic, eco‑friendly, or animal welfare-friendly ingredients. Through procurement, we can support these responsible producers.

Hannah Macey
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It is now the world’s leading sustainability certification tailored for the hospitality sector. It is built on ten impact areas covering how you design your menus and source your ingredients. Through to how you engage with the local community and treat your staff in your restaurant space. Through to your environmental impact. So, looking at everything from the energy emissions and carbon emissions on site. Through to the environmental impact throughout your value chain. Something I really noticed yesterday and really noticed through my conversations with the Green Dining Guide, is this real capacity to support farming networks in your country. It seems very interconnected it seems a lot easier than my experience learning about other countries. I learned that it is easy to do direct delivery from farmers. I know that there is a 24‑hour postal service I learned about, which is very cool. Also, you got these Indigenous native people that live in your mountains and live in your regions that have not shifted their farming or gone with the Western modern ways of farming. They have stuck to their principles. These Indigenous farmers have really got this amazing capacity for a diversity of plants and diverse species, all really tasty because these species are grown with the real soil.

In 2025, Taiwan’s green dining movement reached a major milestone with the official launch of the Food Made Good Standard, introduced in partnership with the Green Dining Guide and the Sustainable Restaurant Association. As part of this initiative, Hannah Macey from the SRA visited two certified green restaurants to witness the impact firsthand.

Hannah Macey
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I had the pleasure yesterday. I am in Taiwan for the week. I had the pleasure yesterday to visit two of the restaurants—a two-star and a three-star restaurant—in Central Taiwan yesterday. I visited From Heart to Table in Puli Township and Liao’s Studio which is close to Taichung. From Heart to Table, who are here today, and I went to visit yesterday. Some examples of things they do is for instance, they serve buckwheat tea. I know buckwheat is quite a common tea drunk here, and then they use that buckwheat after to form one of their dishes. So, it is a circular approach to the ingredients. Sort of re-purposing that tea which would often be chucked in the bin. It is about repurposing that. Also, something very fascinating I also loved learning about the leopard cats and learning how they are only using suppliers, only using farmers who aren’t using chemicals on their soil, and really bringing the leopard cats into their farming ecosystem.

Seafood and beef have long been staples on menus worldwide. How can people eat more sustainably?

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Right now in Taiwan, we have a “Taiwan Seafood Choice Guide” available online. It shows which fish species are becoming increasingly scarce, and people are advised to avoid eating those species. However, many Taiwanese citizens are not yet aware of this issue; they may only say things like “don’t eat large fish” or “don’t eat shark fins."

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Beef is one of the biggest greenhouse gas emitters. The stats for beef in comparison to other animal products is vast. I know this is an issue globally. We all eat a lot of beef but I just noticed it here. One thing we really push at the SRA and with our conversations is how do you lower the amount of beef on your menu? Something that I shared earlier is collaborating with butchers and taking a “whole animal” approach to the beef. Working with diverse cuts, not just the prime cuts, but also the secondary cuts.

The award ceremony also hosted several forums, gathering professionals from different fields to discuss sustainable dining and future directions.

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They wanted to go downstairs, but couldn’t find an elevator anywhere.

Not only is the signage unclear, but the path intended for wheelchairs was incomplete. They wandered around the main hall aimlessly until they finally found a sign...

Even the ramp was full of dangers, the floor just inches away. Turns out the elevator was outside, forcing them to go around the building again. Advocacy groups denounced the state of the facilities, saying they desperately need improvement.

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