This report includes work results of regular inspections and maintenance of monitoring wells; sampling and analysis of groundwater quality during dry spells; soil survey of 36 agriculture areas; onsite inspection of 75 underground storage tanks; preliminary audit of 300 gasoline and diesel storage facilities; confirmation of compliance with regulation for 37 gasoline and diesel storage facilities; establishing an inspection method and onsite inspection of self-use oil facilities; pollution trend surveys for 10 auto repair vendors or other vendors; preliminary audit of factories shutdown according to Article 8 and 9 of “Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Act”; regular inspection of sites in regulatory listing from January-December; verify that polluted sites have been improved; school seminars and other promotional seminars on regulations and promotional activities on soil and groundwater conservation; emergency response; and closure of well. Summary of the results are followed:
1. Regular inspection and maintenance of monitoring wells, and recompletion of wells
Regular inspection of 17 area-based monitoring wells and 26 field-based monitoring wells was conducted in the first half of the year; and regular inspection of 17 area-based monitoring wells and 24 field-based monitoring wells was conducted in the second half of the year. The appearance for most of the monitoring wells are fine, only a few monitoring wells have missing notification boards or broken rubber washers. In addition, well W-5 in Beitou agricultural lands has been covered over by concrete construction. This project has completed maintenance for 11 monitoring wells and fixed the well shaft of 5 monitoring wells. The recompletion of wells has been conducted on 3 monitoring wells in Guting Elementary School, Beian Junior High School and W-1 in Beitou agricultural lands that have silt and biological membrane on the bottom of the wells. The recompletion of wells has been effective shown by the larger hydraulic conductivity (K) and removal of silt and biological membrane.
2. Inspection results from field-based groundwater quality during dry spells
The items that have exceeded monitoring standards for groundwater pollutants in the 6 monitoring wells (W1~W5 and Beitou cleaning team) at Beitou agricultural lands include: ammonia nitrogen, Total Organic Carbon (TOC), total dissolved solids, and arsenic. The largest rate that items have exceeded monitoring standards for groundwater pollutants include ammonia nitrogen by around 16.64 times, TOC by around 1.74 times, and total dissolved solids by around 1.38 times. Arsenic has exceeded monitoring standards for groundwater pollutants by 1.52 times. None of the aforementioned items were added during this inspection. These items have regularly exceeded monitoring standards for groundwater pollutants during the inspections of the 6 monitoring wells.
3. Soil inspection results for agriculture areas
Total analysis of the 8 heavy metals have been conducted in 3 locations including Changan Elementary School, Sanmin Junior High School and Wego Elementary School. The monitoring results for Changan Elementary School (Zinc：311 mg/kg) and Wego Elementary School (Copper:120 mg/kg) have exceeded monitoring standards for agricultural lands for food plants (Zinc: 260 mg/kg and Copper: 120 mg/kg). An onsite inspection of the two schools was conducted by the EPB on August 11th, 2020. The EPB has recommended the school and public registration office to notify the manager or user of the land to note soil and fertilizer usage. The relevant regulations may be referenced in the “Fertilizer Categories/ Item Numbers and Specifications” announced by the COA. To reduce risk, the 2 elementary schools have decided to remove the original food plants and have planted non-food plants including landscape plants and nectariferous plants.
4. Soil and groundwater inspection results for gas stations
The results from the second phase of inspections for soil and groundwater pollution at the Formosa gas station in Taipei Songshan Airport, Fuhua gas station and CPC Nangang station gas station indicate the pollutant concentration for soil and groundwater are all lower than control standards, and currently have no pollution concerns.
5. Preliminary audit and confirm compliance to regulations for gasoline and diesel storage facilities
Preliminary audits have been conducted for 314 gasoline and diesel storage facilities this year. The storage tanks for 51 businesses are underground (103 total underground storage tanks), the other storage tanks are all aboveground. 7 businesses including Sewerage Systems Office, Public Works Department, Taipei City Government (Neihu sewage treatment plant); Taipei City Hospital Heping Fuyou Branch- Heping; Taipei Veterans General Hospital; Yang-Ming University; Shin Kong Xinyi Financial Center (Le Méridien Taipei); Fubon Xinyi Building; and Polis International Development Company (Renaissance Hotel) should comply with current regulations on management. Therefore, the EPB has sent official letters (EPB #1093056634) on August 21st, 2020 to notify the businesses to comply with current regulations on management. Submission for regulatory listing for the businesses has also been conducted. Other underground storage tanks that are not under current regulations on management will be added to regulatory listing starting from January 1st, 2021 according to the revised regulations on management; improvement plans should be submitted by June 30th, 2021; and improvements should be finished by December 31st, 2022.
6. Establishing an inspection method and onsite inspection of self-use oil facilities
35 locations of self-use oil facilities were inspected and 20 had installed self-use oil facilities. The remaining 15 locations had oil trucks at specific areas instead of installing self-use oil facilities; only 2 of the locations have installed intercepting ditches and catch basins.
7. Pollution trend surveys for auto repair vendors or other vendors
10 auto repair vendors or other vendors were surveyed. 7 vendors do conduct auto repair. The other 3 vendors are bus operators that only provide parking and do not conduct auto repair. Only the Wanfang Station (Metropolitan Transport Corporation) had installed an aboveground storage tank. In the future, relevant monitoring equipment should be installed as none of the other vendors had installed an aboveground storage tank.
8. Preliminary audit of factories shutdown according to Article 8 and 9 of “Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Act”
The Project has filtered out the factories that have applied for shutdown by searching on the “Industrial Development Bureau, MOEA Public Data Inquiry for Factories,”. In addition, a list of managements that have provided soil pollution assessment investigation and test data in the last 5 years according to Item 1, Article 9 of “Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Act” have been compiled by searching on the “Soil and Groundwater Data Management System”. After comparison of factories that have applied for shutdown and managements that have provided soil pollution assessment investigation and test data, none of the factories that have applied for shutdown have provided soil pollution assessment investigation and test data to the EPB for review.
9. Regular inspection of sites under regulatory listing
Regular inspection of sites under regulatory listing was conducted once a month from January-December, the regular inspection results indicate that the sites under regulatory listing have improved pollution issues according to schedule. No abnormal issues were found.
10. Verify that polluted sites have been improved
a. Verification results for pollution improvement at the engine repair factory of the Far Eastern Air Transport company indicate the pollutant concentration of groundwater is below standards. The site has been removed from the regulatory listing as of April 23rd, 2020.
b. Verification results for pollution improvement at the Changan gas station indicate Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in the soil has exceeded standards. The EPB is recommended to change the item for regulatory listing to Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in the soil; and order the Changan gas station to provide revisions and a follow-up control plan. The revised content and extended schedule should be reviewed and approved. The fees for the reverification should be handled by the Changan gas station.
c. Verification results for pollution improvement at the Southeast Bus company indicate Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in the soil has exceeded standards. The EPB is recommended to order the Southeast Bus company to provide revisions and a follow-up control plan. The revised content and extended schedule should be reviewed and approved. The fees for the reverification should be handled by the Southeast Bus company.
d. Verification results for pollution improvement at the Keelung river gas station of the Sure Service Station Company indicate the pollutant concentration of soil and groundwater is below standards. The site has been removed from the regulatory listing as of April 23rd, 2020.
e. Verification results for pollution improvement at the Taipei interchange gas station of the NPC gas company indicate the pollutant concentration of groundwater is below standards. The site may be removed from the regulatory listing.
11. Closure of wells
Closure for 5 wells has been conducted including for well A00031in Xinglong Primary School, well A00122 for the Far Eastern Air Transport company, and 3 wells (A00119, A00126, A00206) in the CPC Zhongxiao East Road gas station.
12. Emergency response
3 emergency response works were conducted, explanations are as follows:
a. A CPC oil pipe ruptured on Chenggong Road, Neihu District
Soil inspection results indicate toluene, ethyl benzene, xylene and Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons concentrations exceeded control standards for soil pollution, the site has been declared a control site as of March 20th, 2020.
b. A complaint was filed on the alleyway of 11 Lane, Mingxi Street, Shilin District.
Results from the screening test using the soil TPH test kit indicate TPH concentration is 175ppm and is lower than 500ppm. Preliminary judgement indicates the site currently has no pollution concerns.
c. A complaint was filed on the CPC Fuxing North Road gas station
PID/FID Inspection results using the leak detector indicate PID/FID concentration is lower than 500ppmV. Preliminary judgement indicates the site currently has no pollution concerns.
13. School seminars and other promotional seminars on regulations and promotional activities on soil and groundwater conservation
1 promotional seminar for regulation on management of underground storage tanks was conducted, 11 promotional courses on soil and groundwater was conducted at schools, and an exhibition for the 20th anniversary of the “Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Act” was held.
