SDG 6.5.3
SDG 6.5.3 Off-campus water conservation support
To support water conservation off-campus and promote the sustainable utilization of water resources, NCUE integrates its University Social Responsibility (USR) projects, industry-academia cooperation, and research capacity to continuously assist local governments, industries, communities, and schools in Central Taiwan in promoting water resource conservation, water quality management, and water-saving measures, thereby enhancing regional water resource utilization efficiency and environmental resilience.
1. Off-Campus Conservation Actions and USR Projects
1. In 2025, NCUE extended its water resource conservation actions beyond campus to communities, coastal aquaculture industries, and local elementary and secondary schools through University Social Responsibility (USR) projects and environmental education promotion:
(1) Building an off-campus coastal water quality monitoring network and providing technical support: NCUE runs the “Resilient Changbin” USR Project, which serves Shengang, Xianxi, Lukang, Fuxing, Fangyuan, and Dacheng Townships in Changhua County. The NCUE team developed simplified water quality testing guides and held free workshops (Table 1) that help local fishers monitor the water quality of aquaculture ponds and ditches in real time, prevent water pollution, and protect regional water security.
| No. | Date | Activity Name | Number of Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2025-03-07 | Blue Carbon: Water Quality Workshop | 19 |
| 2 | 2025-03-25 | Blue Carbon: Intertidal Zone Survey Workshop | 25 |
| 3 | 2025-04-29 | Blue Carbon Intertidal Zone Water Quality Workshop | 25 |
| 4 | 2025-06-04 | Local Water Quality Testing Workshop | 30 |
| 5 | 2025-05-20 | Eco-friendly Aquaculture Fish Pond Workshop | 25 |
(2) Promoting eco-friendly aquaculture and aquatic habitat restoration: To address the impacts of climate change on water quality and aquaculture environments, NCUE provides eco-friendly aquaculture techniques and helps fishers in monitoring bacterial strains and algae in their ponds. NCUE also turns discarded aquaculture shells into biological reefs and places them in Hanbao Wetland. This method has improved intertidal habitats, increased the number of benthic species from 14 to 37, and supported aquatic biodiversity and ecological balance (Figure 1).
(3) Deepening water resource and climate change education in rural areas: NCUE combined its “Baisha x Common Good Education” and “Resilient Changbin” projects to build water resource conservation and sustainability issues into project-based learning (PBL) lesson plans. NCUE ran environmental education training directly at rural schools, including Houliao Elementary School, Yuhua Elementary School, Dacheng Junior High School, and Cao-hu Junior High School, to cultivate local seed teachers and citizen scientists in climate change and water resource conservation (Figure 2).
2. Research Support for Water Resource Governance
2. NCUE continues to support the government and local communities in promoting off-campus water conservation and sustainable water resource management through research projects, while applying research outcomes to support the government in disaster prevention, water resource allocation, and local governance.
(1) "Impacts of Large-scale Circulation Changes on Precipitation in the Asian Monsoon Region under Global Warming (III)"
This project analyzes the impact of changes in the Asian monsoon circulation on regional precipitation under global warming scenarios, provides important scientific evidence for Taiwan's disaster prevention, water resource allocation, and sustainable water resource management, and assists in improving water resource utilization efficiency.
(2) "Tamsui River Water Culture Research – Water Environment Change and Disaster Adaptation Project"
To help protect water resources and the environment, this project conducts interdisciplinary research on river channel change, water environment history, water culture, and climate change adaptation. It combines historical document analysis, field surveys, oral history, and interviews to propose suggestions for water environment governance and disaster adaptation, supporting water resource conservation and sustainable use.
Related information webpage is shown in Figures 3-4.URL:
(a) https://www.grb.gov.tw/search/planDetail?id=16551737
(b) https://www.wra.gov.tw/wrap/cp.aspx?n=39953
(c) https://web.wra.gov.tw/wralib/WraLib/wSite/books_96414
(3) “Monitoring of the Farming and Fishery Social Ecosystem in the Wetlands of the Western Coast of Taiwan (3/3)”
Using Fangyuan, Hanbao, and Wanggong Wetlands as long-term observation sites, NCUE continues to monitor changes in water quality, ecology, and topography. Through local interviews, community participation, and needs for surveys, NCUE responds to local water conservation demands, supports local water-saving policies and government water resource management decisions, and promotes the sustainable development of wetlands and water resources. Related activities are shown in Figures 5-6.
Taiwan Long-term Social-ecological Research Changhua Station LTSER Changhua related webpages (Figure 7):
(a) https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083565782372#
(b) https://ltsertwchanghua.org/
