Shuanghsi River Restoration Project to Ensure Campus Safety

Directed by SCU Vice President Bau-Tscheng Dung and other administrative staff members, Shuanghsi river restoration project began in April, 2020, under the support from several city councilmen who are also Soochow alumni. The construction work is scheduled to be completed by the flood alert season this year to resolve the silt problem resulting from alluvium so as to maintain a safer campus environment.

In light of the experience of the breakwater damage caused by the torrential rain in June, 2017, the school administration initiated the river restoration plan, aiming to ensure the clearance of waterway and the safety of the campus. Behind the project have been the assistance from Soochow alumni and Taipei city councilmen Hao Wang (Dept. of Chinese, class of 1980), Hwai-Tzong Pan (Dept. of Chemistry, class of 1984), and Hong-Ting Hsu (Dept. of Political Science, class of 2006), who had inspected the site along with staff of Taipei Hydraulic Engineering Office before the restoration proposal was approved.

The construction highlights less burden on the river’s ecosystem and reconnection of Shuanghsi River with the old-time water source Futehyang Channel. The base of the bank slope is organized for construction with reinforced concrete, with pebbles obtained from the local river channel itself rather than materials transported from somewhere else, which aims to put environmental sustainability into practice.

Additionally, owing to the proximity of the water intake of Futehyang Channel with the bank slope, as well as the channel’s historical significance, SCU requested permission to conserve the intake as a cultural heritage. Although the channel has lost its function for irrigation today, it is worth being restored as the proof of the prosperity and development that Shilin area once boasted.