The EICS canal in the Pingtung farming area (Source: Szu-Ling Lin and Cheh-Shyh Ting).
Collaborating on Sustainable Interflow Water Collection: The Erfeng Irrigation Canal System from the Period of Japanese Rule in Taiwan

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58981/bluepapers.2023.2.14

Abstract

While the world struggles with limited water resources, interflow water is a hidden gem of a solution. Interflow is an important water source contributing to river flow. It is the movable water in the unsaturated zone, or vadose zone, which may return to the stream or go into the riverbed. The collection of interflow water was included in the design of the Erfeng Irrigation Canal System (EICS) during the Japanese period in Taiwan (1895–1945), and it is still used in the EICS in Pingtung in southern Taiwan. Today, urbanization and changes in land usage have reduced the EICS’s irrigation function. At the same time, intensive habitation has introduced pollution to the canal area. Furthermore, new extensions and rebuilt facilities of the irrigation infrastructure have minimized historic values. We are involved in working to maintain the canal in a way that safeguards cultural heritage values and to expand other functions of EICS, such as by installing micro-hydro facilities over the canal to preserve its importance to local communities.

How to Cite

Lin, S.-L., & Ting, C.-S. (2023). Collaborating on Sustainable Interflow Water Collection: The Erfeng Irrigation Canal System from the Period of Japanese Rule in Taiwan. Blue Papers, 2(2). https://doi.org/10.58981/bluepapers.2023.2.14

Published

2023-11-09

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2023): Water & Heritage for Sustainable Development

Section

methodologies and case studies

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Copyright (c) 2023 Szu-Ling Lin, Cheh-Shyh Ting

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author Biographies

Szu-Ling Lin, National Pingtung University

Szu-Ling Lin is Professor in the Department of Cultural and Creative Industries, National Pingtung University, Taiwan. Prof. Lin received a master’s degree and PhD in the Department of Architecture, National Chen Kung University, Taiwan. She got her second master’s degree in the Department of Economics, National Taiwan University, Taiwan. Her work focuses on the historic conservation of cultural heritage. Her research interests include theory and methods of conservation, conservation policy and the economics of conservation and historic site management. She is a member of several academic societies, including US ICOMOS, the Architectural Institute of the Republic of China and the Society of Architectural Historians of Taiwan. She is leading research projects funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology and has managed several investigations of historic conservation for the Taiwanese government since 2007. A recent research interest is the relationship between tangible cultural heritage and sustainability in historic urban and creative cities. She is attempting to theorize and put into practice the sustainable evolution of tangible cultural heritage and its conservation and she is considering how tangible cultural heritage affects the sustainability of cities, as a form of social, economic, environmental and cultural capital.

Cheh-Shyh Ting, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology

Cheh-Shyh Ting is Professor Emeritus, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. Prof. Cheh-Shyh Ting serves as Professor Emeritus and Distinguished Professor Rank Research Fellow, specializing in water cultural heritage conservation and hydrogeology. He is the former chairman of the Department of Civil Engineering and former director of the Center for Water Resources Education and Studies and dean of the College of Engineering at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology. He received his Diploma of Hydraulic Engineering at IHE-Delft (International Institution for Infrastructural, Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering) in the Netherlands in 1986 and his MSc and PhD in hydrogeology from Free University, Amsterdam, in 1993 and 1997 respectively. Prof. Ting is the author of two books (in English) and over 300 technical papers in the field of groundwater hydrology, groundwater resources evaluation and management, the artificial recharge of groundwater, water cultural heritage conservation and hydrogeoecology. Prof. Ting is a member of several academic societies, including US ICOMOS. A recent research interest is tangible cultural heritage and sustainability (SDGs) in historic urban and creative cities. He is involved in theorizing and practicing the sustainable evolution of tangible cultural heritage and its conservation and he is considering how tangible cultural heritage affects the sustainability of cities as a form of social, economic, environmental and cultural capital.

References

Torii, Nobuhei. 1936. 伏流水利用に依る荒蕪地開拓：臺灣製糖株式會社萬隆農場創設竝に其經過 [Interflow water usage of pioneering undeveloped lands: The establishment and operation of the Taiwan Sugar Corp Wanlong Farm]. Taiwan: Water Conservancy 6, no. 6: 3–27.

Lin, Szu-Ling, and Cheh-Shyh Ting. 2014. ‘‘潺流水中的永續智慧：日治時期屏東伏流水灌溉工程與文化資產保存’’ [Sustainable wisdom in water: irrigation engineering of interflow water in the Pingtung area during

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Lin, Szu-Ling, and Cheh-Shyh Ting. 2019. “Instantiating the Concept of Restoration in the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act Through the Implementation of the Repair and New Construction of the Erfeng Irrigation Canal System.” Taiwan: Water Conservancy 67, no. 3:74–98.

Ting, Cheh-Shyh, and Szu-Ling Lin. 2021. ‘‘高屏溪流域水資源工程與文化資產保存’’. [Hydraulic engineering and cultural heritage conservation in the kaoping river basin]. Pingtung: Water Resources Department, Pingtung County Government.

Ting, Cheh-Shyh, and Szu-Ling Lin. 2022. “Case Study 2: Sustainable Wisdom in Water Irrigation Engineering: Erfeng Irrigation Canal System of Interflow Water in Pingtung.” In ICOMOS Thematic Study: The Cultural Heritages of Water in Tropical and Subtropical Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, edited by Michel Cotte, Nupur Prothi and Jean-François Toulze, 148–50. https://openarchive.icomos.org/id/eprint/2571/.