After 16 years of living in Vinh city, Nghi An commune only has 42/2346 households using tap water!

People are insecure

Kim Chi hamlet and Mr. Le Van Sau's household are the addresses that Nghi An commune leaders introduced us to learn about the current situation of "thirst" for clean water for daily life. That is becauseKim Chi famous ornamental plant villageThere are many unfortunate people with serious cancer; and Mr. Le Van Sau's family is one of several dozen households that no longer have to use groundwater.

As the Chairman of Nghi An Commune People's Committee, Mr. Chu Van Mai said: "Clean water is a very urgent need of the people. Since the water supply pipeline system was completed, the commune has worked with relevant parties many times, but the rate of households having clean water to use is still very low. Although we have tried, we feel guilty towards the people for breaking our promise.

Kim Chi hamlet, and some other hamlets, have many people with cancer; like Mr. Sau's family, the reason they have clean water for daily use is because they regularly call for help on social networks...".

Mr. Le Van Sau (former Chairman of the Health Sector Trade Union, living in Kim Chi hamlet) and his family became citizens of Nghi An commune in 2011. Living here, knowing about the history of the land and the life and work of Nghi An people, he is not assured about the quality of his family's underground water source.

So, he bought a TDS tester to check the total dissolved solids index in the groundwater. And then with the measured index ranging from 300 - 500 mg/liter depending on the weather, he was extremely worried. Then every day he spent time going to his relatives' house in Nghi Phu commune to ask for tap water to use. After 12 years like that, on March 8, 2024, Mr. Sau's family was able to use tap water from Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company.

Talking about the "allowance" to use tap water, Mr. Le Van Sau started from being elected as Secretary of the Kim Chi hamlet Party Cell after his retirement. During his two terms as Secretary of the Party Cell, 3 issues including electricity - roads - clean water for daily life made him worry a lot. Regarding the issue of clean water, according to Mr. Sau, Nghi An used to be a land that suffered a lot of bombs and bullets, today people who grow flowers and ornamental plants have to use many types of chemicals, such as herbicides, growth stimulants, etc.

He thought, where do the toxic residues go? And he answered himself, of course they will seep into the groundwater, even if it is filtered very difficult to completely remove, it will greatly affect health.

So to get attention to the issue of clean water in Nghi An, he "called out" in many forms, including posting information on the social network Facebook. "I have repeatedly expressed my opinions at the commune forums, written petitions to the government, People's Councils at all levels, and a number of departments and branches; answered press interviews... not just writing on Facebook. Regarding my family's affairs, after the water pipeline system was installed in the house, I submitted the application to Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company. After a long time without a response, I proactively called the Company and found out that someone came to install it so that I could have tap water to use..." - Mr. Le Van Sau shared.

And to confirm that the groundwater in Nghi An has signs of pollution, Mr. Le Van Sau used a TDS tester to measure the groundwater index of his family and 4 other families in the neighborhood. The result was that the water sample of Mr. Sau's family had an index of 258mg/liter; of the remaining 4 samples, one had 178mg/liter, 3 samples had 330 - 375mg/liter. According to Mr. Sau, water with an index of 0 - 170mg/liter can be used for drinking, from 170 - 300mg/liter can be used for daily life, and from 300mg/liter or more should not be used.

Families with groundwater levels above 330 mg/liter said they all installed filtration systems to use groundwater for daily activities. However, they are concerned about their health and hope to soon be able to use tap water. As Mr. Dang Minh Mao said: “The pipeline has been connected to the house, we have submitted the application, we need to take the next steps soon so we can use tap water…”.

powerless

In order for Nghi An commune residents to have tap water, since December 2019, Vinh City People's Committee has invested in 3 projects to build a water supply pipeline system with a total cost of more than 30 billion VND. By early 2024, the water pipeline system will be installed to all 2,346 households in Nghi An commune, and at the same time, connected to the pipeline managed by Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company.

In August 2023, when the two secondary pipeline projects invested by the Nghi An Commune People's Committee are completed, the commune government and hamlet committees will notify households to register for tap water use and guide them to complete the application form provided by Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company. However, currently, only 42 households in Nghi An Commune have been connected to and are using tap water.

As for Trung Tam hamlet, according to hamlet chief Tran Van Phuong, there are more than 100 households registered and have submitted their files to Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company. However, up to now, no household has been connected to use tap water.

Mr. Phuong took out the list of households that had submitted documents with confirmation from the Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company, then said: “In Nghi An, all criteria meet the advanced new rural standards, only the clean water criterion has not been met. The groundwater here looks very clear to the naked eye, but is not guaranteed. My family has filtered the water through two new filter systems for drinking, but still not satisfied.

There have been several cases of cancer recently. People have been very upset because they have been waiting for tap water for many years and are worried about their health. Having attended many meetings, I know that the commune has tried very hard, but I understand that it is powerless…”.

In Kim Chi hamlet, according to hamlet chief Le Tien Dung, at the end of 2023 he directly submitted 73 applications to Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company but no households in that area were able to use tap water. One of the reasons Mr. Dung mentioned was that the Company required people to add to their applications a notarized copy of the Land Use Rights Certificate.

However, most households in Kim Chi hamlet mortgaged their land use right certificates to the bank to borrow capital for business, so they are facing difficulties.

Mr. Dung said: “Many households in Kim Chi Hamlet are concerned about clean water. However, seeing that households who have completed their application have not yet been connected to clean water, and are then asked to provide a notarized copy of their Land Use Rights Certificate, they are discouraged. Therefore, I hope this issue will be resolved to facilitate the people…”.

On September 17, 2024, Nghi An Commune People's Committee issued Report No. 474/BC-UBND reporting the progress of water supply contracts for households to Vinh City People's Committee. Here, Nghi An Commune People's Committee affirmed that "the need for clean water supply is very urgent and people have made many requests". At the same time, it reported: "In March 2024, the Chairman of the Commune People's Committee worked directly with the Board of Directors of the water plant, but up to now, the connection of domestic water for people has not been improved, currently only 42/2,346 households have been connected, while the number of registered households is more than 1,300. On May 29, 2024, the People's Committee of Nghi An Commune had a working session with Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company. During the meeting, Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company committed to signing contracts and installing water supply for 1,420 households (about 60% of the total number of households in the whole area) by the end of December 2024. However, up to now, no additional households have been installed.And propose the City People's Committee"take measures to help Nghi An commune so that people can soon stabilize their water source, serve their lives, and minimize the number of people getting sick due to water pollution..."

Focus on removing obstacles

It is known that the Provincial People's Council issued Plan No. 270/KH-HĐND.TT on August 13, 2023, and is expected to hold an explanation session in the last 6 months of 2024. In particular, it will explain the management of clean water production and business activities (urban clean water and rural clean water) in the province....

Regarding this issue, Nghe An Newspaper reporters contacted the Urban Management Department, Vinh City People's Committee to get more information about the clean water issue in Nghi An commune.

According to an official from the Urban Management Department, the City People's Committee's request for Nghi An commune to report on the progress of the water supply contract for the people; at the same time, report on difficulties, problems and make recommendations is to have a basis to work with relevant parties to find a definitive solution. He said: "This is the content that the city is interested in resolving. Investing tens of billions of dong from the budget to complete clean water infrastructure but only a few dozen households have access to tap water is very unreasonable...".

Contacting Mr. Le Sy Chien - Vice Chairman of Vinh City People's Committee, it was said that he had grasped the relevant information. Vice Chairman of Vinh City People's Committee Le Sy Chien said: "In September, the city will hold a meeting on this content. The city will invite Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company and a number of related Departments and branches to meet to resolve the problems...".