台灣，高雄市愛河生命活化的沿革
The Revitalization of Love River Kaohsiung ,Taiwan

陳繼志

Chi-tze Chen
Former Director General of Public Works Bureau,Kaohsiung City Government
TAIWAN

2007.10.11

Data of Kaohsiung City••

Population : 1.52 million
Area : 178k ㎡•

Annual rainfall volume : 1,780mm( Jun the highest rainfall of 398mm)

I. Origin of Love River

Before 1895
Love River was transformed fromshallow sea, low-lying land, swamp,
and then the tangled waterway of theriver showed up.The map drawn bythe Dutchmen in 17 century had
illustrated Love River, but the riverhad not been named yet. The
Chinese called a section of a river“Gang,” which means a port, inChing Dynasty. The Gang from upstream the downstream were Chuan-zi-tou
Gang, Tien-wei Gang, Long-shuei Gang, and Yen-cheng Gang.

 1895-1947
The former name of Kaohsiung is Takau. Since Love River had not had aformal name then, it was named Takau River.In 1920, “Takau” was renamed as“Takao(高雄)”. In 1935, the Port of Kaohsiung was built. In order to ship the1logs to the downstream and to cooperate with the reclamation plan of Yen-cheng
District, the river was dredged and expanded 73~128 meter in width and 3.6 meterin depth. The river became “Kaohsiung Canal”, the ship canal for industrial use,
and was thus formally named Kaohsiung River. This was the first time that theriver had a formal name.
 1948-1952
In 1948, there was a “Lover River Cruise Company” opened near Jhong-Jheng
Bridge. The shop sign was destroyed by a Typhoon and only “Love River” ofthe sign was left.Later on a reporter who accounted the event of a couple
committing suicide by jumping into the river mistook “Lover River” as the nameof the river. Since then, the name “Love River” was continuously used.In 1952,the port was completely dredged. The inner and outter ports both met theinternational standard, and the ocean shipping and transportation developed
expansively.

Lover River is the spring of life of Kaohsing.
It is originated from Bagualiaope pool in
Kaohsiung County. The total length of Love
River is 12 Km, and 10.5 Km were in KaohsiungCity.The river goes throw Zuo-ying, San-ming,Gu-shan, Yen-cheng, Cian-jin, and Ling-ya
districts, and final it comes to the First Port ofKaohsiung.The width of the river is 130 meter inthe outfall and decreases progressively to the 14
meter in the upstream. The origin is an irrigation
ditch, and the river basin is about 5600 hectares.
The water of Love River comes from the origin and the tide of the sea. It is atypical tide-affected river. There are many species of fish in Love River, and theriver was also one important channel for transportation and irrigation in Ching
Dynasty.

2

 Contribution of Love River
1. Transport: In Ching Dynasty, Lover River was the way communicating
Kaohsiung Plain and Ci-hou Port. During the Japanese reign, the river wasdredged to be the canal.
2. Irrigation: One of the sources for irrigation of the Lover River basin.
3. Salt industry: In Ching Dynasty, the citizens drew the water of Love River tothe saltern to produce salt. The present Yen-cheng District was the field formaking salt by insolation.
4. Log shipping: After Taiwan was back to Chinese reign, the logs were one of
the major imports.
5. Drainge: Love River goes throw the tensely-populated Kaohsiung downtown,
and became the natural drainage way.
6. Recreation: In early years, Love River was beautiful and quiet. It was a greatplace for reacreation.

II. Plan of Sewerage Systems(I) pollution
In accord with the Central Economic Development
Plan in 1953 and the Ten Constructions Plan in 1970,
there were plenty of factories established. The
industry developed prosperously and Love River wasgradually polluted.In 1968, the government tried torescue Love River by dredging, but failed. In 1971,
Love River’s death was announced.
Love River was seriously polluted in1964. The river was so stinky that thedragon boat racing, which had always been held in Love River actually, wastransferred to the Lotus Pond in 1972.The rapid economic development andurbanization made population grew fast too. The increased industrial andhousehold waste water ruined the water quality of Love River.
3

Population

Population increase curve of Kaohsiung CityTime(II) Origin of the Plan
1. The Export Processing Zones were
established in the 60s. The government
noticed the pollution of Love River and thePort of Kaohsiung and tried to understandand control the problem.
2. Since 1963, every mayor of Kaohsiung City
paid great attention to the pollutions of Love
River, but no one had ever succeeded to savethe river.
3. In 1966, the Provincial Government
completed the preliminary plan of thesewerage systems of Kaohsiung region.
The Kaohsiung region ,including entire
Kaohsiung city and part of Kaohsiungcounty was divided into six sewerage
areas.
Love River was belonged toKaohsiung Sewerage Area.
4. In 1968, the plan was approved by theexpert sent by WHO. In 1972, thesewerage system of Love River Basin ofKaohsiung Sewerage Area was carefullyprogrammed.
5. The sewerage systems of Kaohsiung
adopted separate systems for storm water
4and sewage water.
6. After the discussion between the City Government and Provincial Government
in 1977, they decided to adopted the “Plan of Sewerage System” which cancompletely solve the pollution.
7. Coordinating with the pollution control of Love River, the first phase of theSewerage System Plan was to construct the main trunks, outfall to the sea, andinterception facilities which can divert the household and industrial
wastewater into the sewerage system.
(III) The First Phase Item
1. Sewer: About 24.4 meter of the main trunk and sewer pipes
2. Pump Stations: 2
3. Sewage Treatment Plant：1 (built on a 12.6-hectare reclamation land, with4.
5.

treated volume of 400,000CMD)
Outfall to the Sea：1 (1.8m Inner diameter, 3Km in length.)
Sewage interception stations ： 115

 Progress
1. In1977, the Provincial government was in charge of the construction of themain trunk in Cheng-gong Rd.
2. In 1979, the project was transferred to Kaoshiung City Government because
Kaohsiung has turned into municipality directly under the jurisdiction of theCentral Government
3. The First Phase was completed in 1986.
4. The facilities starts their formally operations in February 1987.
5. Outlay：NT$ 3.77 billion(US$ 98.80 million)
6. Treated sewage volume：（1）The first phase: 400,000CMD（2）Present : 750,000CMD（3）Max volume planned: 1,000,000CMD(IV) The Second Phase Items and Progress
1. 127 km of main trunk, sewers and networks of branch sewers.
2. 1 sewage lift station, 2 interception stations, investigation and maintenance of
22 km sewer pipe.
3. Plan of secondary-level treatment facilities for the construction of Central
District Sewage Treatment Plant.
4. The treated sewage volume was expanded from 400,000CMD to750,000CMD.
5. The schedule of the project is from 1990 to 2001.
6. Outlay：NT$17.5 billion(US$ 60.80 million)
6

(V) The Third Phase Items and Progress
1. 320km sewer pipes, interception facilities of Dock
No. 5, Kai-syuan and Sing-wang interceptionstations.
2. The facilities renewal of the Sewage Treatment
Plant, including repairs of the old facilities,
installation of new chlorinated disinfection basinand seawater electrolysis facilities. Discharging pump station, power supply
system, and process piping.
3. schedule: 2001 to 2007.
4. Outlay：NT$ 13.06 billion (US$390.75 million)
5. Presently, the household connection rate is
47.87%, and it is expected to be 50.70% by theend of 2007, which means 50% completion of thehousehold connection project.

III. Pollution Control of Love River Strategy and implement of the pollution control
1. Calculating the river self-purification capcity for the load of the pollution andthe rate of interception.
2. Choosing the location and method of pollution-abatement by according to thepriority and policies.
3. Simultaneously, the household connection of the branch rivers were developed
to improve the community environment and to increase the stability of riverwater quality during raining season.
4. The household connection of the downstream were done with highest priority.
5. The household connection gradually replaced the interception facilities. Theriver turned back to its natural appearance step by step.
6. The increasing household connection rate and interception facilities prevent
pollutants from flowing into the river.
 Overview of the implement
1. In early period, the urbanization could not coordinate with the urban sewerage
7system. The improvement was inefficient.
2. Cooperated with the 1st phase of sewerage system project, there were 11interception stations which can defend the tides and prevent the pollutantsfrom flowing into Love River.
3. During the dry season, November to April of the next year, of Kaohsiung, thesewage was intercepted and diverted into sewerage system. During the rainyseason, May to October, the wastewater was partly discharged into the riveraccording to the condition of rainfall.
4. Repairing the river embankment and the waterway to make the river maintainthe ability of self-purification during the sunny day and the function of floodcontrol.
1.

5.

Main items
Water Quality Improvement: To construct the tide-proof interception
facilities.
Riverbank renewal: from the outfall of the river to the K branch of upstream,
about 14 km in total.
Waterway cleaning: Cleaning out the floating waste and the sludge depositedin the bottom of the river.
Greening: landscaping and greening to the newly-developed lands after therenwal of river embankment.
Outlay：NT$1.39 billion (US$ 37 million)

6.

The above-mentioned were all completed in 1986.

Flood control– drainage system＆automatic flood supervision system

2.
3.
4.

8

1. Construction of drainage ditches, storm sewers and drainage open channalby according to the planned municipal storm sewer system.
2. The drainage system
of Love River including Ding-jin, Ao-zih-di,Gang-shan-zih drainage area, Nei-wei and old downtown drainage area.
3. Establishing the water gates, pump stations, and automatic flood supervisionsystem.
4. Efficiently handle the water level of Love River,
Canal No. 2 and K branch by grasping real-time
information. The quality of the flood-controlling
facilities and the efficiency of emergency solution
were upgraded.

 Solid Effects
1. The water quality has been improved and the stinky smell vanished.
2. Love River was one announced to be the dead river without ecology in 1971,
but in 1987 there were 5~6 species of fish found in the river. Now, there areeven more than 50 species.
3. The sewage interception rate (sum of rate of interception and household
connection) of the water accessible area of Love River reaches 99%. The
water quality was greatly improved and became steady.
4. The household connection rate of Love River basin is more than 50%, whichis the highest increasing rate all over the country.
Landscapes ImprovementIn 1998, the Construction and Planning Agency of Ministry of the Interior
promoted the plan, “NewAppearance of theTowns.” The plan
included roads
improvement of the First
Dock, Shao-chuan-tao
Park, Lighting
arrangement of the 3
bridges over Love River,and water-accessibleparks along Love River.
These projects thoroughly9connected and revealed the landscapes and ecology of the river.
Parts of the river banks adopted Nature-working Method to provide morechances to the citizens to get close to the river and nature.



BeforePresent10

The dragon boat racing went back to Love River. More and more sports andrecreation are taken place along Love River.

IV. Conclusion
1. The success of Love River’s revitalization is attributed to the all the mayors’attentions efforts to the problem since the 60s.
2. The plan were divided into many projects. Integrated with the construction of thesewerage systems, the Love River revitalization was successful, cost-saving, andefficient.
3. Coordinated with the urban development, the plan was done step by step.
Therefore the effects are better and solider.
4. The plan is still on the way, and we expect to complete the sewerage system of thewhole city as soon as possible.
5. After the revitalization and transformation, Love river becomes a river with goodwater quality, no stinky smell, and beautiful greening and landscapes. It is now a
popular place for sight-seeing, recreation, and even having a cup of coffee.

11