The Environmental Protection Agency announced that the Erjen River has replaced the Peikang River as the most polluted in Taiwan.
According to the Taipei Times, a 31km stretch of the 65km-long river is considered heavily polluted, which means that an additional 6km has become heavily polluted since a 2005 survey.
43% of the pollution in the Erjen River comes from wastewater produced by the 360,000 people living near its banks, making residential waste the primary cause for pollution.
Another 40% of pollution comes from pigs being raised near the river, and 9% of the waste comes from industrial wastewater.
The Taipei Times reports that researchers were surprised to discover that the Erjen River had moved up the list so quickly. On the last survey, the Erjen was listed as the third cleanest river.
Source: Taipei Times
