Yuck.
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Now I’m wondering about the keelung river…
How can that river get so dirty on such a short distance.
Not to get into another round of Taiwan News bashing, but I find the article a bit questionable. First of all “Tamshui,” really? Then the link that is provided only goes to the website of the foundation. Can’t find any list of the dirtiest rivers there anywhere. Then, what is the definition of “dirty” exactly? My guess is that it means “carrying plastic to the sea.” It’s not about other types of pollution, right? The Tamsui (Danshui) River is not as polluted as it used to be and I am sure you can easily find 50 rivers in China that are more polluted.
It’s only a “global numerical number”, I doubt very much the accuracy of this ranking, but the idea is great.
Tamsui river after a big rain is still quite scaring to watch, it’s almost possible to walk on it, jumping from plastic garbages to garbages 
Leave alone India.
Better than … Panchow, panciao, banciao, and a million other variants of Banqiao
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From my observation, the Danshui River is probably the greatest spewer of motorcycle helmets in the world. Especially after a typhoon, but I can’t find a global index to verify my theory.
Anyway, it’s good for helmet crabs, who depend on discarded carapaces for survival.
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If you go down to the river bank, there are indeed lots and lots of crabs there, more crabs than crap actually.
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Once upon time many Taiwaneses were drowned alive in Tamshui river when Chinese Nationalist Party soldiers drilled bar wires through their ankles, stringing those unarmed civilians in bundle, and threw them into the river.
Cruelty-flowingwise, Tamshui River is the dirtiest river in the world.
That’s actually a great idea. You could probably sell them at night markets for a handsome profit.
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It seems to me that cleaning up the Tamsui would be a kind of long-range project:
Edit: Yikes! My mistake. I think the incident took place on the Keelung River. The Keelung joins the Tamsui in (I think) Beitou District in Taipei.
The above article mentions both rivers, but it says the body appeared on the Keelung.
The article below just mentions the Tamsui, and claims Reuters as its source:
This article mentions both rivers:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/598453.stm
This Chinese-language article seems (to me, a pre-novice in Chinese) ambiguous about whether the event took place on the Keelung or the Tamsui, but I suspect it happened on the Keelung:
Maybe someone with Chinese skills can figure the above one out.
But I’m pretty sure it happened on the Keelung. Oh, well, never mind. If you’ve read this far, I’m sorry for wasting your time.
I don’t think Tamsui river even ranks top 16 in Taiwan’s dirtiest rivers.
The Tamsui river is actually pretty short. It starts where the Xindian and Dahan rivers conflate near Jiangzicui in Banciao, and the Keelung river merges into it farther downstream at Guandu.
The KMT execution ground that VOT mentioned was at Machangding off Xindian river. There’s a memorial there now that commemorates the victims.
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Speaking of shockingly polluted rivers…
One morning in late March, campaigner Brij Khandelwal called the Agra police to report an attempted murder.
Days before, the high court in India’s Uttarakhand State had issued a landmark judgement declaring the Yamuna River — and another of India’s holiest waterways, the Ganges — “living entities.”
Khandelwal followed the logic.
“Scientifically speaking, the Yamuna is ecologically dead,” he said.
His police report named a series of government officials he wanted charged with attempted poisoning.
And then there’s this:
“Yes, the Yamuna is polluted, but it has the power to liberate us,” one priest said. “If you bathe in the Yamuna you will not go to hell.”
Have Taiwan’s holy men & women made similar pronouncements about local bodies of water?
Taiwan needs this.
Read this on reddit
Where exactly is this ? I can’t find any location named Machangding
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Machangding is nowhere near Songshan Airport as the Wikipedia article states. It WAS an airport (Taihoku South Airport) during the Japanese era. Even though the airport is no more, the name stuck. That’s how the South Airport Night Market got its name.