Residents struggle against contaminated water

A worker of Ha Nam Province's Water Supply Co operates water filtration devices. Thousands of residents of the province are drinking water with high levels of salinity. — VNA/VNS Photo Anh Tuan

Thanh Ha Commune People's Committee chairman Pham Dang Vinh said only 30 out of 3,200 households in the commune could have access to tap water while the rest had to rely on rainwater and underground water for years.

The situation had worsened, with the commune on the list of the province's 12 communes where the water contained the high concentrations of arsenic.

The province's Centre for Water and Environmental Hygiene reported that in some places in the districts of Binh Luc, Ly Nhan and Thanh Liem, the concentration was hundreds of times higher than permitted Health Ministry's concentration of 0.01mg per litre.

Vinh said that local health officers had helped residents to reduce the arsenic concentration in water but had no solution for salinated water.

Although almost all local households built tanks to store rainwater, they hardly had enough fresh water and reluctantly used high-salinity water for daily activities, especially during the dry season when people were unable to store enough rainwater, Vinh said.

Well water was discoloured, smelt and had traces of mercury, said local Nguyen Dinh Thu. When digging deeper wells, local households had faced other problems.

"At a depth of 28-30 metres, it looks clear but tastes as salty as sea water," said Thu.

Another local Pham Thi Mui said the salty water corroded almost all steel household appliances including taps, pots, pans or even her washing machine.

"We had to use rain water sparingly, only for cooking and drink. When taking showers with saline water, we have to rinse with rainwater to prevent boils. Clothes, after being washed with well water, need rinsing again with rain water," said locals.

"Previously, local people took water from lakes and ponds for use but over the last decade, the lakes have receded and the water source has become polluted through cloth-dying activities – the commune's traditional work," said Vinh.

The Northern Division of Planning and Water Resource Exploration chairman Nguyen Van Dan said that the Red River Delta including Ha Nam Province had several times in the last million years been submerged under the sea, which had resulted in saline contamination of underground water. Now, in some inland places, salinity remained high due to improper desalting processes.

Experts say that drinking arsenic-rich water over a long period will result in various health effects including skin problems (such as colour changes on the skin, and hard patches on the palms and soles of the feet), skin, bladder, kidney and lung cancer, and diseased blood vessels on the legs and feet, and potentially diabetes, high blood pressure and reproductive disorders. — VNS