Being the regional center to assist the seven local Environmental Protection Bureaus (EPBs) in the Southern Taiwan to manage their Water Watch programs, this project promotes experience exchange among counties and cities, through on-site visits and consultations, as well as hosting workshop of public participation on watershed management. The center also conducts training course and seed-teacher workshop to assist local EPBs to equip Water Watchers with needed knowledge and skill. In order to integrate the local voices to the decision process of watershed management, the River Restoration Center also held watershed public participation meetings for Erren River and ChiShui River, both are listed as the Priority River to be remediated. The conclusions of the watershed meetings are presented to the EPA-hosted Executive Meetings of River Pollution Cleanup Projects. This year, the Southern Region Project is also responsible to modify the performance evaluation index of the management of Water Watch program for local EPBs and of the National Excellent Water Watch Team. Through literature reviews, this project also evalutate the effectiveness of the Water Watch policy and the future development strategies. The project has completed various tasks according to the plan. To further strengthen the policy goals of the water watch programs, it is recommended to (1) track the application of simplified water watch program assessment indicators and continuously optimize the performance evaluation mechanism; (2) encourage companies to establish water watch teams, expanding participation through ESG initiatives; (3) empower water watch teams to be familiar with ecological checking procedures and collaborate in preserving the integrity of the water environment; (4) introduce excellent water environment protection experiences from abroad and expand opportunities for international exchange.

Public Participation, River Pollution Cleanup, Water Watch, Environmental Education