"Taiwan's Council for Economic Planning and Development has chosen Taidong County in the southeast as the site of the island's first deep ocean water (DOW) pilot plant...
DOW usually refers to water 200 meters below the surface of the sea, where it is clean, cool (under 10 degrees Celsius), has small molecules, and is rich in mineral content. It contains few germs, since sunshine cannot penetrate that deeply and photosynthesis is impossible... The pilot plant, which is to be built over four years... will serve as an R&D and technology transfer center for DOW technology. In addition to the production of drinking water, this technology can also be used in a wide range of other applications including agricultural production... horticulture... The plant will be designed to tap water at a depth of 400 meters below the surface; this is one of the main reasons for the choice of Taidong, since the seas there drop to 600 meters less than two kilometers off the coast there. In addition, oceanic currents flow past, and the surrounding sea and land areas are free of pollution. These factors help make Taiwan one of the best places in the world for developing the DOW industry, along with South Korea, eastern Japan, and Hawaii. The semi-governmental Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) will build the pilot plant on a 1.8-hectare plot at the Zhiben River estuary, and a pipeline, capable of drawing 10,000 metric tons of water a day, will be extended 2,500 meters into the sea within one year. ... A related plan... mapped out by the Taidong County Government, calls for the development of a DOW industry park adjacent to the pilot plant. The park will cover 32 hectares... Several private enterprises are already scrambling to tap the huge DOW market potential... Kuang Lung's plant in Hualian County has four pipelines that can draw in 24,000 metric tons of DOW per day... Another entrant into the line is the Lucky Cement Corp., which started to develop a DOW biotech park in Hualian two years ago... The company, which has obtained technological support from ITRI... plans to use DOW for orchid cultivation... Investors are optimistic about the future of the DOW industry in Taiwan. They point to its success in Japan" article URL : http://www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=65516&ctNode=9 *********** Regards, VB _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
