WRA Director-General Lai Chien-Hsin inspected Bie Creek (under the jurisdiction of the 9th River Management Office) on the 6th, where the 9th River Management Office Director Hsieh Ming-Chan and colleagues explained the river conservation plan and the achievements of PPP. Director-General Lai commended the colleagues from the 9th River Management Office for their efforts in using the "river basin management platform" to achieve the following: make room for the river by returning land, boulders, water and fish to the river through cross-over collaborations; engage in joint learning and discussions with the public to formulate visions, goals and strategies in a bid to resolve the problems associated with Bie Creek conservation. In doing so, the public and private sectors can become partners.
Director-General Lai Chien-Hsin inspected the improvements made to the revetment in the Fengnan levee section of Bie Creek, where the 9th River Management Office employed floodplain cutting techniques combined with boulders obtained from dredging the upstream section of the Xiuguluan River to protect the river bank and rebuild the armoring layer. The near-natural stone-beam works have replaced concrete grade-control to improve Bie Creek's severe riverbed scouring problem by gradually removing unnecessary grade control to attain the goal of "returning boulders to the river." Director-General Lai inspected the Timolan floodplain at the left bank of the Bie Creek, which was transformed into an ecological pond for the preservation of Aphyocypris kikuchii by the 9th River Management Office and the private sector through PPP. Director-General Lai was pleased with the short-term achievements of the river conservation efforts, but he also reminded that rivers take millions of years to form and develop, but people often contemplate river utilization with a short-sighted mindset of looking ahead only several decades into the future, therefore it is imperative to make sure that the floodplains are protected from excessive man-made constructions and human interference to preserve the river's natural watercourse and the natural riverside environment.
Additionally, Director-General Lai also inspected the achievements of returning water to the river at the right bank of Fuxin Bridge on Bie Creek, where he acknowledged the 9th River Management Office's performance in cooperating with local farmers, Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station and Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute to conduct water-saving rice experiments and rice fields featuring smart irrigation system. According to the 9th River Management Office, returning water to the river aims to solve the problem with the insufficient minimum flow during the dry season and preliminary experimental results show decent water-saving performance as well as improved production quantity and quality. Besides drastically reducing the manpower and time needed for irrigation management, 30% of the water resources are saved and returned to Bie Creek to accommodate the needs of living, production and ecology.
The 9th River Management Office Director Hsieh Ming-Chan elaborated that the office established the Bie Creek River Basin Management Platform in 2019 and the Bie Creek Conservation Plan was implemented in 2020 inspired by the vision and objective of restoring the river's vivacity. With the 4 major strategies of returning land, boulders, water and fish to the river, PPP and upstream/midstream/downstream collaboration are implemented to improve the Bie Creek's problems such as riverbed scouring, grade control, river running dry during the dry season and endemic species. The Bie Creek River Basin Management Platform now enters the 3rd year in its operations, ready for the local government to take over and adopt the maintenance of Bie Creek's sections that have already been improved. It is hoped that the successful experience of Bie Creek will be duplicated in other river basins to foster more outstanding PPP examples.