Difficulties in combating water pollution in Dien Chau

Xich field in village 1, Dien Ky commune, for the past 5 years has become a dead field, covered with dense rubbish, a home to rats and insects.

The reason why the 4-hectare fertile rice field became a wasteland, to the regret of 134 households, is that the production facilities in the Thap - Hong - Ky industrial cluster discharged waste directly into the canals that overflowed into the fields, seeping deep into the ground, making it impossible for people to plant crops; just setting foot on the field made their skin itchy and ulcerated.

Some canals in Dien Chau are clogged and polluted due to people dumping garbage and animal carcasses. Photo: MG

According to Mr. Tran Van Thu, a local resident, his family had 2 fields in this area that had to be abandoned for many years. Dong Xich has had many delegations come to check the level ofpollutedbut still not resolved. Previously water pollution, now plastic and iron production wastewater seeps into the ground. Although the local government and people have repeatedly petitioned, a long time has passed without results.

Dien Chau Irrigation Enterprise manages nearly 200 km of primary, secondary and tertiary canals and many works on the canals, serving irrigation and drainage for more than 7,000 hectares of crops. However, currently, the water source of the irrigation system in the area is polluted. Through inspection, there are more than 30 discharge points of industrial wastewater, craft villages, domestic wastewater, agricultural production causing serious pollution in canals 18A, 65, 22A, 22B, N2... in communes such as Dien Thap, Dien Hoang, Dien Hong, Dien Ky...

According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Hanh - Director of the Enterprise, the pollution situation in irrigation canals as well as drainage canals is very serious. People still lack awareness of dumping garbage and waste into the canals. It is also very difficult to collect garbage due to people's awareness. The industrial clusters of Dien Hong and Dien Ky still discharge wastewater into irrigation canals and with the management function, the enterprise has had many forms of notification to the industrial clusters and factories to limit but still affect the environment.

People in the coastal area of ​​Dien Chau have had to live with the problem of waste for many years. Photo: QA

In coastal communes, the discharge of dirty water from craft villages, fishmeal processing factories, ship engine oil and people's domestic water also pollutes the Bung River.

On average, about 450 boats dock every day, most of which dump waste, dirty water, and plastic bags directly into the sea. Not to mention, every day, fishermen also dump dozens of liters of waste oil into the river to replace engines. The obvious consequence is that the aquaculture area in Dien Van cannot survive due to polluted water sources, people have to drill for underground water to raise shrimp, or hundreds of hectares of salt production land of the people are abandoned, partly due to polluted water sources.

Mr. Tran Nhan - a resident of Dong Loc hamlet, Dien Ngoc commune shared: "The amount of waste in the sea is very large, especially the oil discharged from ship engines, the underground soil is black. Now the consequences are clear, the river water used to have a lot of fish but now there is not a trace of fish, the river water is too dirty".

To protect the water environment, relevant departments of Dien Chau district have coordinated with localities to review and compile statistics on organizations and individuals that discharge waste causing water pollution. The District People's Council also conducted specialized monitoring at points that pollute water sources.

Accordingly, in 4 years, 143 establishments were inspected, discovered and administratively punished more than 30 establishments causing environmental pollution. Dien Chau District Police fined a production facility in Thap - Hong - Ky industrial cluster 50 million VND for directly discharging production water into the environment. Although there has been intervention from authorities at all levels and functional sectors, the encroachment of water sources leading to pollution still occurs.

During the snail harvesting season, tons of snail shells are dumped into Lach Van, increasing sedimentation and environmental pollution. Photo: QA

Mr. Phan Xuan Vinh - Vice Chairman of Dien Chau District People's Committee said: Currently, in river systems including Nha Le canal, Bung river or drainage canals, people's awareness in some areas is very poor, throwing all kinds of waste into the canals. We have propagated and encouraged communes to include regulations in village and hamlet conventions to have deterrence and punishment. For businesses, if they discharge waste into the environment, we will strengthen supervision, establish interdisciplinary teams to regularly inspect and impose appropriate punishments.