Tainan Sihcao Wetland Park Introduction
Located next to County Road 178, the century-old heritage site—Tainan Waterway—can be easily missed if not paying close attention. This site bears witness to the significant development of water resources in the Greater Tainan area. After retirement from its operational days, the Tainan Waterway has transformed into a historical atmosphere-filled water museum, with its Baroque-style plant well-preserved. Inside, a complete set of machinery, which are rare old antiques, evokes nostalgia. The so-called waterway encompasses five facilities of the water supply system: the water intake facilities, sedimentation tank, filtration chamber, pumping room, and purification pool. The historical value of this site as a heritage site includes its various structures, Western-style reinforced concrete, red brick buildings, and stone roofed houses, as well as well-preserved equipment like 14 English rapid filter barrels, components, yard cranes, and vertical electric motor units. These tools are cherished cultural heritage within Taiwan's water supply industry. Visiting the purification pool requires ascending 189 steps of the purification pool trail to reach it. The building, made of a combination of natural stone and simulated stone blocks, is solid as a fortress. Each side of the purification pool has a water quality testing room, topped with soil and vegetation, featuring 59 cast iron vent columns. The back of the purification well gate has a circular emblem on the gable, displaying the characters "南水" (Southern Water) made of cut cement, which is the emblem of "Tainan Waterway," narrating its illustrious history to visitors. About the Father of Taiwanese Waterways—Yasuro Hamanaka Yasuro Hamanaka (1863–1932), revered as the father of Taiwanese waterway, was born in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, and graduated from the Imperial University of Tokyo's Department of Industrial Engineering. In 1896, he came to Taiwan as an assistant to the British William Burton and served as an engineer in the Civil Engineering Department of the Governor-General of Taiwan. During his 23 years of work in Taiwan, he participated in and completed several key waterway projects in Keelung, Taipei, Taichung, and Tainan, making significant contributions to Taiwan's waterway systems.
