Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairman of the Vinh City People's Council, Mr. Phan Duc Dong confirmed that the issue of environmental pollution management and treatment in some lakes and canals is one of the two contents that the Standing Committee of the City People's Council has chosen and organized for questioning at the 7th Session, December 15, 2022. Mr. Phan Duc Dong said: “Voters are particularly interested in the issue of environmental pollution in lakes and canals, hoping that the city will clarify the causes and have a thorough solution. Therefore, the Standing Committee of the Vinh City People's Council has considered and chosen this content for questioning. The questioning session was quite lively, with delegates asking questions frankly and responsibly; the City People's Committee also explained and clarified related issues. After the session, the Standing Committee of the People's Council concluded the questioning session...".
At the Office of the Vinh City People's Council, there are enough documents stored to show that the 7th Session's question-and-answer session had many "spinning" questions about the environmental pollution of lakes and canals. Specifically, as questioned by delegate Hoang Ngoc Cu - Secretary of the Party Committee of Hong Son Ward: "Along with 13 managed lakes and canals, the city also has many large and small ponds and lakes. Most of the ponds and lakes are polluted by daily wastewater from people flowing into them; the collection, treatment of waste, environmental treatment, dredging of lake beds, canals and ditches are not carried out regularly. Has the City People's Committee assigned large and small ponds and lakes located in residential areas to any organization or individual for management? What is the form of assignment, are there documents and instructions on how to manage them? Are inspections and checks done regularly and how are they carried out? If an environmental pollution incident occurs in these ponds and lakes, who is responsible? How will the incident be resolved and what are the sanctions?"
Or as delegate Nguyen Thanh Mai - Party Secretary of Trung Do Ward asked: "The construction of the Citadel moat and the North Canal received great sympathy and support from the people, creating a highlight for the urban landscape and drainage for the city... However, after a short time, these canals were seriously polluted, with sludge, black water, and foul odors. May I ask, along with the cause of people's awareness, is there also a cause from state agencies? If so, which agency is responsible? What is the long-term solution to overcome the pollution and shortcomings?"...
As one of the delegates questioning the content of environmental pollution, Chairman of the Vinh City Veterans Association, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Giap confirmed that all the questions were clearly explained by the representative of the city People's Committee, from the current state of pollution, causes, solutions and treatment plans. From his perspective, according to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Giap, the fundamental cause is because the city's urbanization speed leads to a rapid increase in population density, the amount of wastewater discharged is increasing day by day while the wastewater drainage infrastructure is still weak and not synchronized; besides, the environmental protection awareness of a part of the population is still not good.
Mr. Giap said: “The problem of environmental pollution has a great impact on people's lives, not only causing discomfort but also adversely affecting health, especially for the elderly and children. With the responsibility of a People's Council delegate trusted by voters, moreover, the veterans' organization is a force protecting the Party and protecting the regime, so we will closely follow the promises of the government, supervise units performing their tasks, and promptly report to the Party Committee and government so that the living environment of the people becomes better and better. Vinh City has been a class I urban area for 15 years, we cannot let voters worry about environmental pollution…”.
Working with the city's functional departments, we were provided with reports explaining the current status of management and treatment of environmental pollution in lakes and canals in the area. According to the information here, Vinh city has 13 lakes and canals with a total water surface area of 83.3 hectares. At the lakes and canals, there are systems of surrounding sewers and separation wells built around them to collect wastewater and lead it to the centralized wastewater treatment plant in Hung Hoa commune for treatment (Northern Canal, Citadel moat, Northeast Lake, Central Park Lake, Vinh Tan Lake, Southeast Pumping Station Reservoir...).
In recent times, the city has implemented measures to reduce pollution such as directing the People's Committees of related wards and communes, the Urban Infrastructure Management and Development Joint Stock Company, Nghe An Environment and Urban Works Joint Stock Company, to encourage people to clean up the environment, collect and collect waste associated with the implementation of Green Sunday; collect and handle when fish die; direct the dredging and clearing of canals, pilot planting of aquatic plants (in the Citadel moat) to improve water quality, treat environmental pollution; develop a drainage project, operating procedures for the drainage system (Citadel moat, North canal); renovate and upgrade the technical infrastructure of lakes; strengthen inspection and supervision of the management, operation and treatment of wastewater, etc.
However, there is still a situation where wastewater flows into lakes and canals, causing pollution, especially during the hot season. Through inspection, Tay Sam Lake, Goong Lake, Cua Nam Fish Lake, TECCO Lake, Hung Loc - Hung Hoa Regulating Lake have a light level of pollution; Central Park Lake, Vinh Tan Lake, Tay Bac Lake, Dong Bac Lake, Thanh Co Moat, Bac Canal, Dong Nam Pumping Station Reservoir, Tay Nam Pumping Station Reservoir have a medium level of pollution. Some problems were pointed out, that is, in lakes and canals managed by state agencies, the investment, renovation and upgrading of degraded infrastructure, collection, waste treatment, environmental treatment, periodic dredging, tree care, etc. have not received due attention. With 3 lakes assigned to enterprises (Vinh Tan Lake, Central Park Lake and TECCO Lake), attention has not been paid to dredging sludge and environmental treatment; There is no coordination regulation between enterprises and drainage system operators, so there is a situation of shirking responsibility. Meanwhile, the funding source for environmental management is still limited, so most of the lakes and canals have not been dredged or treated since their operation.
The reason is that the technical infrastructure for collecting and treating wastewater is overloaded, degraded, and not synchronized, so wastewater has not been thoroughly collected, sometimes flowing into lakes and canals; some lakes and canals even have wastewater flowing directly into them without going through separation wells. On the other hand, mud from the canal and ditch system is pushed into the lake by rain, causing sedimentation, but dredging work has not been carried out regularly, some lakes have not been dredged since they were put into operation. Management and operation of the drainage system are not yet guaranteed; the wastewater treatment plant in Hung Hoa commune, Pumping Station No. 1 (main pumping station) is overloaded, causing the level 2 and level 3 pumping stations to not be able to pump water continuously. The sense of responsibility of a part of the people is not high, they still throw waste into canals, ponds and lakes; detection and handling by functional agencies are still limited...
Clearly stating the current situation, pointing out the existence and causes, the city has proposed many solutions to completely solve the problem of environmental pollution. Specifically, such as inviting independent consultants to assess the causes of technical infrastructure, operation, and propose solutions; improving the efficiency of management and operation of the drainage system, completely overcoming the situation of wastewater flowing into lakes and canals; allocating funds to organize dredging of sediment; researching suitable and controlled aquatic plant planting to treat water in lakes; having investment plans, increasing the capacity of centralized wastewater treatment plants, main pumping stations; directing to strengthen inspections and strictly punish cases of littering causing environmental pollution...
On the morning of February 7, the water surface of the lakes, Central Park canal, Vinh Tan lake, Citadel moat, North canal, Southeast pumping station reservoir, Southwest pumping station reservoir, Hung Loc - Hung Hoa regulating lake... was still dark. In particular, the odor pollution at the Southeast pumping station reservoir and Citadel moat was extremely serious. At the Southeast pumping station reservoir, wastewater continued to overflow as we reported in the article "The cry from Vinh Tan ecological lake". Due to the large volume of wastewater overflowing, the lake's water surface had even risen above the barrier by about 20cm.
Send images and clips of wastewater overflowing into the reservoir of the Dong Nam pumping station to the management and operation unit, the Urban Infrastructure Management and Development Joint Stock Company. Deputy Director Vo Tuan Anh said that in recent days, the centralized wastewater treatment plant has been continuously overloaded. On February 6 alone, the amount of wastewater was so large that the plant had to process more than its capacity, up to more than 29 thousand m3but still not completely, so we had to let it overflow into the reservoir of the Dong Nam pumping station. “Continuously overloaded, a few days ago, the wastewater pipeline through the Khanh Hop hamlet, Hung Hoa commune, due to great pressure, had to be cracked and had to be handled. Currently, we are focusing on treating the pollution in the Central Park Lake and Vinh Tan Lake, then we will balance to change the source…” – Mr. Vo Tuan Anh said.