A public participation framwork has been established as a measure to assist pollution control in the watershed managmenet programs for the rivers of the Great Tainan Area since 2002. These watersheds include Erhjen, Yenshui and Chiangchun rivers, which were declared as the Priority Cleanup Rivers by the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration. The objectives of the public participation program are: (1) to form a partnership among various groups of people for river restoration; (2) to establish a river volunteer monitoring and patrolling mechanism; (3) to promote communications among stakeholders through various meetings and volunteer training courses; (4) to raise a general awareness on watershed environmental protection. This project is the 4th year of the public participation program. In 2002, the first year of the long-term program, an office named “River Restoration Center” was established under a joined project between Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (TEPA) and Chang Jung Christian University. The center functions as promotion, communication, volunteer training, and progress evaluation for the program. Seven universities, eight environmental NGOs, two communities, four elementary schools, one high school, and one radio station have signed on as the volunteer groups for river patrolling, water quality monitoring, environmental education, and/or program broadcasting. The tasks that we are aiming to accomplish this year include: (1) keeping the operation of the River Restoration Center and faciliating pollution reporting and communication processes; (2) further promoting the importance of river quality and the public participation framework through lecture and workshop activities; (3) publishing monthly newsletter to enhane the communication among volunteers; (4) assisting TEPA to inform public about the various river cleanup measures accomplished by the governments; (5) training the volunteers to use Web Pollution Reporting System as the alternative to the current telephone reporting system; (6) publishing volunteer handbook, brochure, and video for the river patrolling program. The program has established a framework for public involvement in the watershed managmenet programs for the rivers of the Great Tainan Area. Through the series of projects, three levels of public participation, which include informing government policy, engaging in pollution control, and involving in decision making process, are being performed. Few lessons have been learned: (1) establishing public trust and recognizing volunteer groups’ unique characteristics keep the program running smoothly; (2) motivating community college sustains river patrolling and pollution control activities; (3) involving governors’ commitment and enforcing hazardous waste management help controlling illegal wastewater discharges. The framework and experience built up in this program can be a model to the public involvement programs in other watersheds. We also suggest that (1) adopting the USEPA Watershed Patch Program as the education framework, (2) involving people to the water quality and biological monitoring of the constructed wetlands, and (3) establishing participation mechanism for watershed management decision, are the tasks for the next stage of the public participation program.

Public Participation, Volunteer Monitoring Program, River Patrolling