Water pollution information

Taiwan Where Can I Find...?
1

I shouldn’t even ask this question. I shouldn’t even think about this question. I should just go on surfing and enjoying my life…
but I can’t help but notice the massive amounts of puffer fish that have been washing up on my beach, and I spent an hour tonight cleaning up litter at the water’s edge. Then I googled ‘Taiwan “dead puffer fish”’ and found an old forumosa post from 2008 about the same issue and there was some talk of fishermen poisoning the water. I always comforted myself by thinking that the ol’ puffers were dying in droves because the trawlers accidentally catch them then just toss them overboard. Not that such a thought is comforting, but it’s better than pollution/poisoning being the cause. The same thread cited cold water as the culprit, but I dunno about that…
I’ve spent some time searching online but haven’t found what I’d consider a reputable source for water bacteria/contaminant counts in Taiwan. I found this http://www.epa.gov.tw/en/statistics/c3030.pdf which means nothing to me and this http://edw.epa.gov.tw/eng/reportInspectBeachEN.aspx which is from nearly a year ago and still means very little to me.
Does anybody have what they’d consider a reputable source for current water purity/pollution information? And why don’t I trust Taiwan’s EPA? Shouldn’t the marine biology department of some of the fine universities here in Taiwan be sending students out weekly to take and test samples, and posting their results on the internet? Yes yes laugh it up, I realize there are probably politics involved.
Anyways for other frequent (read: daily) surfers and swimmers, what are your thoughts on water purity. Anybody want to offer me some comfort? Or should I just hope that euthanasia is legal in whatever country I happen to be living in when the cancer strikes? As a female of child-bearing age, should I get my mercury-laiden tubes ligated and start thinking adoption?

I probably posted this in the wrong place and I’m sure it’s been discussed before, but I searched “water pollution” and it didn’t pull up much of what I’m looking for so…whatever. Lemme know your thoughts.

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I know Cali gets a lot of flak on here but this http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/deh/water/docs/bb_recwater_web.pdf is one of the reasons I love my home state. God bless the whistle blowers, annoying as they can be at times :notworthy:

3

I remember about 8-9 years ago there was a thread on here with lots of information on heavy metals in the water in Taiwan.
Which is the reason I would never drink the water here.
I do wonder how the island wide fruit and veg fair with the pollution too.

Could the puffer fish have anything to do with the recent radiation in Japan? The ‘cloud’ was apparently 200 KM off the Taiwanese coast.

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Puffer fish die off seasonally when there are sharp weather changes. This has happened for years. It will keep happening through the spring and summer. Ask the old local fisherpeople. You should be more concerned with the polluted , defunct gold mine up north, the nuclear power plant north of Fu Long, the use of fertilizers and direct run off from farming, untreated sewage and the massive residential building that’s going to happen around Wu Shr harbor, the medical waste and syringes that you find washed up on the beaches time and again. The massive pollution from industrial fishing and over-fishing from the industry. The jelly fish overpopulation due to the loss of natural predators and supposedly global warming. The east coast is also being heavily developed for tourism with the Taiwanese flair for never planning anything out properly. Loss of beach access, building jetty’s where there are wave breaks, restricting access for recreational is all a reality.

Fuck the puffer fish. You’ve got real shit to worry about.