I.Purpose：

Inspected the water source of Sulfur creek to understand the changes of river water quality and the causes of pollution

II.Detail：

Sulfur pores on the mountain

At the upstream of Sulfur creek - clear water v.s. hot spring pipeline

On both sides of the bridge - Heaven and Hell

Sampling and testing of water quality of the upstream

(pH 7.5 - the water quality is good)

Midstream - river water diversion

(Sampling and testing of water - pH 7.49 shows the water quality is good)

The sluicegate at the spa house

Turn the sluicegate to release water

Waterway And Board-controlled Sluicegate To Divert The Water Source

Downstream Of Sulfur Creek - Water Intake At Baxian Canal

(pH 4.52 shows poor water quality - huge amount of hot spring water pollutes the rivers)

III.Thoughts And Feelings：      

      From this inspection, we began to explore the water sources from the mountains. We found that the water quality in the upstream was excellent after our sampling and testing of the water quality at various locations. Nevertheless, many hot springs business owners use the sulfur holes to turn the water into hot springs for the spa business, and the used hot spring water is directly released into the stream, resulting in serious pollution of the downstream streams, due to the fact that the water is over-acidic, unsuitable for the farmers to use for irrigation.

     This founding is shocking, and we have totally different view on the hot springs! Originally we thought that the Yangmingshan hot spring is a natural resource, but I didn’t realize that it actually is the invisible murderer of clean rivers. We think that the government should look into this resulting fact and legislate to force the hot spring industry, so that they can process the hot spring water before discharge. The clean river is not only for the irrigation of farmers, it also affects the whole ecological environment. "Environmental protection" is now an important topic of the whole world; for the health of Taiwan River, legislation must be taken to restrict the hot springs business owners.