After counseling, inspection, announcement, and remediation procedures under the supervision and guidance of the local environmental protection bureau, the groundwater pollution level of a gas station pollution site in Guanmiao district, Tainan had been verified to be within control standards and in conformance with the regulations. As a result, the EPA announced the delisting of the pollution site and reminded business owners to implement self-monitoring and reporting of the monitoring results regularly.

The groundwater pollution remediation site located at the Guanmiao Interchange of National Freeway 3 in Guanmiao District, Tainan City, is classified as of gas station pollution category. In a previous inspection by Tainan City Environmental Protection Bureau, a suspected oil spill was found at the site, which was then announced by the Tainan City Government and the EPA to be a pollution control site and a remediation site. After remediation was carried out by the party responsible for the pollution under active supervision and guidance of the Tainan City Environmental Protection Bureau, levels of groundwater pollutants such as benzene, toluene, methyl tert-butyl ether and total petroleum hydrocarbons were verified to meet the Groundwater Pollution Control Standards. As such, the EPA announced the delisting (of the site) on 14 February.

To prevent soil and groundwater pollution and strengthen storage tank management, the EPA amended in December 2020 the Regulations for Installation and Management of Facilities for Preventing Pollution of Groundwater Bodies and Monitoring Equipment in Underground Storage Tank Systems, targeting the storage system of 25 oil products, including petrol, diesel and fuel oil, and nine organic substances which are subject to the soil and groundwater pollution regulations (totaling 34 substances). These systems require pollution prevention measures in place in compliance with the regulations, as mentioned earlier.

The EPA continues to carry out joint supervision with all environmental protection bureaus and urges business owners to self-monitor and report the monitoring results at regular intervals to prevent soil and groundwater pollution.

Excerpt from Major Environmental Policies, March 2022