Southern rivers suffer heavy pollution

A branch of Sai Gon River under Binh Trieu Bridge in HCM City. The river failed all five water quality criteria. — VNA/VNS Photo The Anh

Vo Quang Chau, deputy general director of the Sai Gon Water Corporation (SAWACO), said that tests carried out in the two rivers this month found they failed all the five water quality criteria applied.

The results underscored the rising pollution levels in both rivers, especially in the Sai Gon River basin, he said.

The level of amonia was 28 times higher than the permitted standard while Chemical Oxygen Demands (COD), an indicator of organic pollutant in water, and bacteria levels exceeded permitted standards by 1.2-1.4 and 2-4 times, respectively, Chau said at a meeting held by the city's People's Committee on Thursday.

Salt water intrusion into the two rivers had also worsened, he said.

More than half of the river routes and urban canals linked to the two rivers with a combined length of 3,000km was polluted, and this had worsened the quality of water resources, an official of the HCM City Steering Centre of the Urban Flood Control Programme said at the meeting.

Discussing the main reasons for water pollution, a representative of the city's Environmental Police division said many enterprises were discharging untreated effluents directly into the rivers through underground pipelines, making it difficult for the police to uncover the violation.

The overlapping of responsibilities in the management of canals and rivers among different departments and agencies, a long-lasting problem, had also contributed to worsening environmental degradation, the meeting heard.

For example, the management of canals was shared by the city's departments of Transport, Natural Resources and Environment as well as Agriculture and Rural Development, participants noted.

Tougher measures

A thorough investigation to find out the main culprits in discharging untreated wastewater into the rivers was a first step to protect the river system from now on, said Nguyen Van Phuoc, deputy director of the city's Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

Enterprises found causing serious environmental pollution should be fined strictly, with particular focus on those involved in livestock breeding, dyeing, seafood processing and recycling, Phuoc said.

Additional automatic water quality monitoring systems should be set up along the rivers, he added.

HCM City People's Committee Chairman Le Hoang Quan said measures to protect the two rivers were not being implemented as quickly as expected.

Quan said a steering board for water resource protection comprising relevant agencies in cities and districts located along the rivers should be set up by September in order to avoid management overlap.

The city's Environment Police Division was asked to formulate by September regulations that allow for repeat offenders in environmental pollution shut down by the authorities.

Twelve cities and provinces that the Dong Nai River runs through signed a co-operation agreement on environmental protection for the Sai Gon-Dong Nai river basin in 2005.

Under the agreement, 70 per cent of the number of industrial parks in these localities were to set up centralised wastewater treatment systems to meet the permissible pollutant discharge standards by 2007.

The localities also pledged to stop operations of facilities that seriously polluted the environment by 2007.

As of now, 70 per cent of industrial parks have failed to build the centralised wastewater treatment systems or the operation of these systems have failed to meet required standards, according to statistics released by the Viet Nam Environment Administration under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. — VNS