A.Background
In order to prevent and slow down the serious deterioration of air quality caused by river dust, the Ministry of Environment has invited the Water Resources Agency, the Ministry of Agriculture and relevant local governments to conduct joint research since November 2007, and has continued to subsidize local governments to implement river dust control and improvement plan.
For 9 rivers with severe dust, such as Zhuoshui River, Daan River, Dajia River, Wuxi River, Gaoping River, Beinan River, Hualien River, Xiuguluan River and Liwu River (Figure 1), cities have carried out river dust prevention work, and have also developed relevant measures like river dust early warning, notification, and response grading mechanism.
Figure 1 The main dust-prone rivers in Taiwan and their management units
The central and local governments jointly implement the river dust prevention work according to the division of uthority and responsibility (Figure 2). The Ministry of Environment convened a river dust pollution prevention project meeting according to the Air Pollution Control Action Plan, In the work of suppressing river dust, the promotion content mainly adopts four aspects of dust reduction strategies, namely "warning and notification of river dust", "publicity and promotion", "protection drill" and "environmental cleaning".
Figure 2 The division of authority and responsibility mechanism between central and local governments
B. Changes in river dust events over the years
Since 2013, the number of dust-raising event days in various rivers has shown a downward trend year by year. Compared with 2013, the number of dust-raising event days in 2016 decreased by 66%, but the number of dust-raising event days in 2017 increased to 75, of which 59 occurred in Zhuoshui River. Since 2018, The Ministry of Environment has promoted the " Action Plan for Fugitive Dust Control and Improvement in Zhuoshui River (2018-2026)", and has strengthened the promotion of dust prevention and control in other key rivers. The number of dust-raising events days has decreased year by year since the promotion of Dust Control and Improvement Action Plan. A total of 7 event days in 2023, including 5 in Zhuoshui River and 2 in Gaoping River, which were significantly lower than the number of days in previous years.
Figure 3 Statistics of dust event days in various rivers over the years
C. Future direction and goals
- (1) Continue to handle river dust forecasting, publicity, protection and environmental cleanup to slow down river dust.
- (2) To promote the central and local governments jointly implement river-fugitive-dust response measures. Take measures to slow down river dust, reduce the area of bare land, and improve the quality of life of residents.
- (3) Promote the green remediation strategies for river-fugitive-dust. Take sustainable measures, such as expanding water mulching and green mulching, in response to climate change.
Figure 4 Common river dust control construction method