Taichung's 'One University Guards One River' initiative wins international innovation award

Taichung City's Water Resources Bureau has been honored with the "2026 IASE Influence Innovation Award" for its pioneering "One University Guards One River" initiative. This program, recognized in the "Sustainable Living and Environmental Transformation" category, highlights a unique approach to water environment management that extends beyond engineering construction.

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River improvement is not just about engineering construction; it requires long-term maintenance and public participation.

The initiative began in 2021, following the completion of significant water environment improvement projects on rivers like Lúchuan, Liuchuan, Huilai Creek (including Chaoyang Creek), and Dongda Creek. To ensure the long-term sustainability of these efforts, the city government forged partnerships with four universities: National Chung Hsing University for Lúchuan, National Taichung University of Education for Liuchuan, Feng Chia University for the Huilai Creek system, and Tunghai University for Dongda Creek. These collaborations aim to deepen the sustainability ethos by having universities adopt and care for the waterways near their campuses.

This strategy effectively merges University Social Responsibility (USR) programs with practical river governance. Through diverse actions such as coursework, environmental surveys, volunteer patrols, ecological monitoring, and community engagement, the program actively involves young students in understanding and protecting their local water environments. This hands-on approach instills a sense of stewardship and provides practical experience in environmental conservation.

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The improvement of the water environment not only enhances flood resilience but also addresses water quality improvement, ecological restoration, landscape creation, and recreational space shaping, allowing rivers to once again become important spaces in citizens' lives.

Water Resources Bureau Director Fan Shih-yi emphasized that improving the water environment offers more than just flood resilience. It also enhances water quality, aids ecological restoration, creates better landscapes, and provides recreational spaces, thereby reintegrating rivers into the daily lives of citizens. The "One University Guards One River" project transforms rivers into living laboratories for education and practice, extending the impact of engineering achievements into grassroots education, community involvement, and sustained maintenance. This model fosters a continuous, replicable, and collaborative governance approach, aiming for the harmonious coexistence of water environment sustainability and urban development.

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Through the 'One University Guards One River' plan, not only are rivers transformed into teaching and practice fields, allowing engineering achievements to extend to educational roots, community participation, and sustainable maintenance, but water environment improvement also becomes not just a one-time construction achievement, but a continuously deepening sustainable action, becoming a sustainable, replicable, and multi-party collaborative governance model, thereby achieving the goal of co-prosperity between water environment sustainability and urban development.