Difficult to complete the rural clean water target

(Baonghean) - A current reality is that clean water supply projects are slow to be implemented, the socialization of water supply is ineffective, and there is a lack of decisive participation from relevant levels, sectors, and people. Therefore, in 2013, both criteria for domestic water, which are clean water meeting the Ministry of Health's standard 02 and hygienic water, are very difficult to achieve as planned.

The target for 2013 is to increase the population of Nghe An province by 4% to have access to clean water (equivalent to 112,000 people). Accordingly, during the year, a number of clean water factories with modern technology (Xuan Thanh, Hong Thanh, Van Thanh (Yen Thanh), Dien Binh (Dien Chau)... have just been completed and put into operation, adding tens of thousands of people in rural areas to have access to clean water according to the Ministry of Health's standard 02. However, that number is still very small to increase the proportion of people using clean water in the first 7 months of 2013. This shows that the remaining months of the year will be a huge "pressure" on completing the set plan.

The difficulty in implementing the clean water program in our province is mobilizing investment capital, especially in the field of building centralized clean water supply projects. The capital plan for centralized clean water projects in 2013 is more than 122 billion VND and will arrange capital to repay debts for 19 completed projects, 14 projects under implementation and 5 newly started projects. At the same time, the Dien Yen (Dien Chau) clean water supply sub-project is being implemented, supported by the Asian Development Bank - ADB, but so far only more than 13.7 billion VND has been disbursed, so the progress of centralized water supply projects is slow.

Along with that difficulty, in our province, the implementation of socialization in the field of water supply is still very limited. In the past, most of the centralized water supply projects were from the State budget, international organizations and local people benefited, but there were no individuals, businesses and domestic organizations investing in the construction of centralized water supply works. Although the province has had mechanisms and policies to encourage society, such as creating the most favorable conditions for individuals, businesses and organizations to learn about and access projects, giving priority to land allocation, supporting loans, etc., it has not yet brought high efficiency. Because investing in centralized water supply works requires a large amount of capital, but the capital recovery period is long, and after completing construction, there needs to be a suitable production and business plan to develop sustainably and effectively. Therefore, organizations and individuals are not really "keen" on investing capital.

Small water supply project in Thanh Thuy commune (Thanh Chuong).

Mr. Nguyen Ich Xuan - Head of Information and Communication Department - Clean Water Center - VSMTNT said: "In the province, only 27% of the rural population has access to clean water according to the Ministry of Health's standard 02 and with the current progress, it is forecasted that by the end of 2013, only about 29.2% of the rural population will have access to clean water (nearly 818,000 people). Therefore, if there are no drastic solutions to overcome difficulties in capital sources, it is foreseeable that our province will have difficulty completing the goal of increasing the rate of rural population using clean water to 31% (nearly 830,000 people) by the end of this year".

In the field of providing hygienic water for daily life through investing in small and scattered water supply projects in rural areas, there are also many problems that need to be solved. In 2013, the investment plan from the capital source supporting the construction of small and scattered water supply projects of Program 135 - CP was 6 billion VND, and Program 30a was 15,000 billion VND, but there was no capital to implement. Due to the lack of that important capital source, even though the capital flow from preferential credit (Revolving Fund of Women's Union, Policy Bank...) reached 120% of the plan and the people's contribution amounted to more than 80 billion VND... but only reached the rate of 2.49%/plan of 3% of people using hygienic water. With that number, it only contributed to raising the rate of 68.5%/plan of 70% of rural people using hygienic water by the end of 2013.

Although the investment in small, individual water supply projects (including wells, drilled wells, water tanks, etc.) is not expensive, many households still cannot do it. The reasons are economic difficulties, poor households, high and dangerous mountainous areas, etc. A pressing problem in the districts of Con Cuong, Tuong Duong, Ky Son, Que Phong, etc. is that people lack clean water, but many self-flowing water supply projects are not used because of damage, and the local authorities do not have timely remedial measures.

Therefore, to improve the effectiveness of the rural clean water program, it is necessary to synchronously implement and integrate small and scattered clean water programs and projects, while giving priority to supporting capital sources or constructing works for people. While the State's investment capital is difficult, propaganda and mobilization work to raise awareness for people to invest in building small and scattered water supply works is very necessary.

In 2013, both criteria for domestic water, clean water meeting the Ministry of Health's standard 02 and hygienic water, were very difficult to achieve. This means that many rural people still live in a state of lack of clean water, or have to use substandard domestic water sources, and this responsibility, first of all, belongs to the relevant levels and branches.

Hoang Vinh