As the Mid-Autumn Festival long weekend approaches, the northeast monsoon season is gradually setting in. The Zhuoshui River basin, which suffered from the torrential rains brought by Typhoon Danas, the July heavy rainfall, and Typhoon Yagi earlier this summer, has once again seen its vegetation covered by sediment from the mountains, leaving large areas of bare sandbanks. Unlike in previous years, however, the Fourth River Management Office and its dust control teams have leveraged years of post-disaster recovery experience to restore most of the vegetation cover in a remarkably short period of time.
According to satellite imagery and drone-based orthophoto analysis by the Fourth River Management Office, the exposed area of the Zhuoshui River increased from 106 hectares on July 12 to 261 hectares on August 22, reaching 350 hectares by September 9. To effectively control dust, the Office promptly initiated restoration works after Typhoon Danas. On September 23, the Water Resources Agency, led by Chief Engineer Chang Ting-Hua, convened the 28th Coordination Meeting on the Zhuoshui River Dust Control and Improvement Action Plan, urging completion of the first-phase control and recovery efforts before and during the Mid-Autumn holiday.
To ensure residents and visitors can enjoy a peaceful and safe holiday, Director Lee You-Ping of the Fourth River Management Office convened a Mid-Autumn Dust Suppression Coordination Meeting on September 22, inviting representatives from the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency Nantou Branch, Changhua County Environmental Protection Bureau, and the Taiwan Water Corporation Southern Engineering Branch. The meeting reviewed the current status of revegetation and reforestation, discussed collaborative strategies for the deployment of agricultural materials, and comprehensively assessed the progress of dust control measures from the Zhongsha Bridge to the river mouth.
As of now, the cumulative implementation area of suppression measures has reached 669.8 hectares — including 170 hectares of water cover, 357 hectares of green cover, 126.6 hectares of other coverings, and 16.2 hectares of flood-prevention vegetation.
The Fourth River Management Office emphasized that during the Mid-Autumn holiday, dust control teams will deploy emergency response measures and manpower in advance, dispatching additional sprinkler trucks and high-lift pumps during periods of strong wind to maintain moisture on the riverbed. For partially exposed areas, dust nets and straw mats will be laid rapidly to reduce the risk of dust storms. By combining immediate dust suppression with long-term stabilization through vegetation engineering, a dual-layer defense system is formed.
Meanwhile, Changhua and Yunlin County Governments have been requested to strengthen inspections of exposed farmland and construction sites along the outer riverbanks, as well as to enhance street cleaning and water-spraying operations in urban areas.
In recent years, the Zhuoshui River dust mitigation efforts have achieved significant progress—relieving residents from persistent windblown dust while creating a flourishing riverine ecological oasis. As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, the Miscanthus floridulus (sweet reed) is now in full bloom, blanketing the riverbanks in silvery-white, resembling “Autumn’s Gentle Snow”, a breathtaking natural spectacle and a symbol of renewal and harmony.
Moving forward, the Fourth River Management Office will continue promoting long-term ecological engineering methods, such as vegetative greenbelts, to achieve both disaster prevention and ecological tourism, bringing safety and beauty to the Zhuoshui River region.