Taichung County scored a total of 87.10 in the evaluation for 2009, improving from 2008 by 0.6, and was recognized as “excellent”. The County was praised by the committee for a multiple of control works in 2009. These included drafting the reinforced emission standards for power industry and steel industry; conducting research and analysis in PM2.5 preliminary control in line with the EPA policy and building the dioxins-focused enviormental monitoring database; notable improvement on the quality of search in stationary source database; aggresively improving dust rising in rivers and harbors, establishing coordinating platform and strategic integration and activating immergency response to dust rising on rivers due to northeastern monsoon. Also included were the appropriate formulation of tightened standards and emergency responsive measures, good results of people appeals and inter-agency control of exposed riverbeds; real-time monitoring of constructions sites by pollution map, exercise of on-line filing system for air pollution fees and the construction of diversified payments for air pollution fees.
Taichung County drew up a total of 20 projects on NT$200.8 million dollars allocated. These are 5 projects for stationary source control, 3 for mobile source control, 6 for fugitive source control and 6 for special projects.
Taichung County reported three regional features in 2009 to EPA: 1. The results assessment of mobile source pollutants reduction in Taichung Port area; 2. Fugitive VOC contol on reservoirs and gas stations in the Port area; and 3. Promotion of Blossom Project along major roads (national freeways, HSR and expresswyas) to decrease burning the rice fields in open air.
The regulations on evaluation of 2009 Taichung County air pollution program were announced as effective with the Bureau Director approval after the review at the Eighth meeting by the “Sixth air pollution control fund and technical consultant panel of Taichung County” on March 10, 2009. These focus on the 8 items as follows: “control and evaluation of data submission (15%)”, “contract workload (10%)”, “report of EPA forms (10%)”, “committee supervision and evaluation and evaluation by mid-term (term-end) review meeting (20%)”, “changes in personnel (3%)”, “specific results or practices to increase satisfaction available (22%)”, benefits of propaganda for project results“(5%)” and “executive results and cooperation on operation by project team(15%)”. In the 2009 evaluations, the river project scored top, with 87.36, immediately followed by permit project, 86.83 and bicycle project 86.76.
Meetings completed pursuant to the contracts included 34 meetings, which were 2 business execution review panel meetings, 4 work review and coordination meetings, 4 supervision and evaluation meetings, mid-term/term-end review meeting (attended) on 2009 air pollution project, 3 expert counseling meetings, 1 task coordination meeting for 2009 air pollution control project, 2 Central region exchange meeting on air quality, 2 joint meetings, 4 regional task coordination meeting on air quality, 1 meeting on questionnaires explanation and 1 results review meeting; plus 5 meetings held outside the contracts. Above meeting held were followed by opinion follow-up control and evaluation every quarter; eight opinions suggested continual follow-up of executive results in 2010.
The 2009 version of Taichung County air pollution control plan was approved by EPA on September 17, and its report was completed in end September complying with the 2009 regulations on EPA evaluation. This plan is greatly challenged in the poor air quality rate PSI>100 which should be improved to be 1.26% in 2011. To improve, only construction sites and street cleaning provide rooms for routine reduction, as the current air pollution program already has no rooms to reduce. The future rooms for reduction rely on the realization of tightened managing measures on specific polluting sources, including “tightened for control of emission by standards for power industry”, “tightened for control of emission by standards for steel industry”, “expressly stipulation of exercise of rating of control measures in 1st grade construction sites”, “standards for emissions by those not listed among controlled industries but with certain scale of annual permitted VOC emissions”, “realization of specified resuction principles for existing stationary polluting sources” and “requirement for indoor storage of powders and particles up to a certain scale”. The 2009 version of pollution control plan also plans on annual air quality deterioration drills and 2011 project of Taichung County and City consolidation.
Taichung County’s practice of air pollution control in 2009 is best known to people in terms of the policy of idle time control on motor vehicles (61.39% stated to be aware) and vapor control measure on gas stations (58.1% stated to). Of the air pollution control measures, the least known is the policy of subsidies to new or modified hybrid fuel vehicles, to only 27.86% of the people. In the support for policies of air pollution control to be promoted, the most supported measures are the energy conservation measures (by 94.81%) and the management policy of promotion of active participation by adoption of private organizations and business groups or volunteers in air quality cleansing areas (by 91.37%).
Since 2004, the observed days of poor quality in Taichung C ounty has been decreasing; in 2009, the poor air quality observed days (PSI>100) totaled 27, which, if the effect of sand storm (98/4/25) was excluded, resulted in 22 observed days of poor air quality with ozone as main indexing pollutant. There were also 4 observed days of airborne particle, which, together with the above-listed, added up to 26. 2008 and 2009 were the two years with best air quality in the last six years.
During the execuation of the project, response operations were announced 39 times, with indexing object maining being ozone for 32 times and airborne particle for 7 times. In all, the response operations reduced airborne particle by up to 3.901 tons, airborne particle by 1.918 tons, VOC by 1.571 tons, toluene by 0.005 tons, nitrogen dioxides by 3.930 tons and carbon monoxide by 0.108 tons.
