The itching canal and breathless canal seem to be found only in Vietnam. The canals in HCM City are being poisoned by about 40 tons of garbage of all kinds and 70,000 m3 of industrial untreated waste water everyday.

Scientists have recently repeatedly warned about the serious pollution of the water resources in the biggest city of Vietnam, saying that this would trigger the outbreak of epidemics that badly affect people’s health.

The canals that effervesce because of the pollution

The canals of Nhieu Loc – Thi Nghe, Doi – Te, Tau Hu, Tan Hoa – Lo Gom in the inner city’s area have all been polluted for the last tens of years. Meanwhile, the canals in the suburb areas, from Binh Chanh to Hoc Mon and Cu Chi districts, which have been serving the irrigation, have also got polluted. Local residents call the canals as “itching canal” and “breathless canal.”

Serious pollution is now not only the problem of canals, but also of the Dong Nai river valley as well, the running water supply source for more than 10 million city’s dwellers. The water resources have got “poisoned” with the waste water discharged directly to the environment every day without any treatment.

The hospitals in HCM City alone discharge 23,000 cubic meters of water every day, most of which is untreated. Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, there are 500 craft villages, 9000 production workshops, 1633 healthcare centers which are discharging dirty water to the Dong Nai River system.

While HCM City’s dwellers fear that their main water supply source is getting more and more polluted, in the upstream waters, on La Nga River, Tri An reservoir and Dau Tieng reservoir, people keep breeding fish with poultry manure. 

Scientists have pointed out that the industrial activities, aquaculture and uncontrolled urban development have all caused the pollution to the water sources.

The hotbed of diseases

There are six operational water plants and 142 water supply stations. However, the running water provided to local residents cannot meet the standards. A report by the HCM City Prevention Healthcare Center showed that it could find problems in 2011 in the running water in many localities. 

The water samples which could not meet the microbiological standards were mostly found in the districts of 7, 9, Binh Thanh, Tan Phu and Phu Nhuan.

Meanwhile, a lot of water samples were found as not meeting the criteria in permanganate, some samples were iron contaminated. Due to the lack of water, many households have to use water from wells they dig themselves. However, the water is not sterilized before use. Most of the well water samples were found organic contaminated (ammonium, nitrate, nitrite…).

According to Deputy Director of the HCM City Prevention Healthcare Center, the examinations have shown that 16.36 percent of water samples do not meet microbiological standards, while 4 percent do not meet physicochemical standards. Nearly all the samples contained high levels of Coliforms, E.coli bacteria. E.coli is a bacterium that causes intestinal inflammation, diarrhea and vomiting.

Experts have rung the alarm bell over the increasingly high percentage of people dieing because of the diseases relating to the dirty water. The percentage of dead children in the water polluted areas is also relatively high.

In the latest news, the HCM City People’s Committee has decided to install cameras on some rivers and canals, including Nhieu Loc – Thi Nghe in order to control the discharging of waste and garbage to the rivers.

Source: Dat Viet/ VNN