An ecologically-acclaimed wetland in the grounds of a school in Taiwan turned out to be the product of a leaking water pipe. The wetland was the pride and joy of students at Taipei’s Kungkuan Elementary School for almost three decades.
Happy students frolicking in the swamp, er, wetland.
The school had just received a £130,000 grant to turn the wetland into an ecology park to house butterflies and insects, reports the China Times Express.
Not enough bugs for you elsewhere?
The embarrassment surfaced after water authorities, acting on a report by a nearby resident, checked the school’s water pipes and found the leak last month, the paper said. Since then, the leak had been plugged and the wetland fountain had stopped gushing.
Wrench applied, butterflies died!
Water authorities estimated the leak had cost the school at least £165,000 over the last 27 years. Since plugging the leak, monthly water bills had fallen from £660 to £130.
That’s one hell of a leak. |