We cannot let people live with pollution!

(Baonghean) - Environmental pollution in Dien Ngoc commune (Dien Chau) is receiving special attention from the public. The Party Committee Dialogue column had an interview with comrade Dau Xuan Thuy - Party Committee Secretary, Chairman of the People's Council of Dien Ngoc commune about the Party Committee's policy to solve this problem.

PV:Environmental pollution in Dien Ngoc commune has been getting more and more serious, directly affecting the health and daily life of the people. So what is the current situation, comrade?

Comrade Dau Xuan Thuy:Dien Ngoc is a coastal commune with great potential for fishing and seafood processing. The locality has nearly 500 boats regularly entering and leaving the port, with about 200 tons of fish entering the port every day. Dien Ngoc commune has 7/12 hamlets engaged in the sea, fishing, seafood processing, fishmeal and fish sauce production, many households drying and washing fish, grinding fishmeal, rinsing fish sauce, etc.

In Dien Ngoc commune, the most serious pollution is the seafood processing village Ngoc Van. In 2008, Ngoc Van was recognized by the province as a craft village. Along with that, Dien Ngoc commune was also supported with more than 1.8 billion VND to build a wastewater treatment system for the craft village with a tank of more than 400 m3.

However, when put into use, because the tank was built too deep, without a waterproofing system, without a lid, the filtered wastewater could not escape but stagnated, emitting a foul odor. This led to wastewater seeping into the bottom of the tank into the ground, polluting the people's domestic water source. The drinking water wells were seriously polluted and could not be used, and the air was polluted, leading to all 4 hamlets: Ngoc Van, Ngoc Minh, Yen Quang and Dong Loc hamlet.

Fish processing facility in Dien Ngoc commune (Dien Chau).

In addition, Dien Ngoc commune also has over 100 small processing facilities, these facilities only focus on profit and do not care about environmental treatment. Especially 3 fishmeal processing facilities, 2 fish residue drying facilities, often give off foul odors. These seafood processing and trading facilities discharge directly into the estuary, causing environmental pollution... seriously affecting the health and lives of the people.

Furthermore, Dien Ngoc is a coastal commune with a small land area and a large population, with an area of ​​only 300 hectares but a population of 15,000. In addition to pollution from seafood processing, the risk of waste overload affects people's daily lives. The average amount of waste discharged into the environment each day is very large, causing serious environmental pollution.

Environmental pollution not only greatly affects people's lives but is also a major obstacle in the process of building new rural areas in the locality.

PV:Thus, it can be seen that for many years now, people in the commune have been living with serious environmental pollution caused by factories and fish processing facilities. It is worth mentioning that despite many petitions, no resolution has been made. So, what is the responsibility of the Party Committee and the government in this matter, comrade?

Comrade Dau Xuan Thuy:It must be affirmed that environmental protection is an issue that Dien Ngoc commune pays great attention to. This is the content included in the monthly Resolution of the Party Executive Committee of the commune to focus on leadership and direction in conjunction with the inspection and supervision work of the Party Committee; evaluate the role and classify the emulation of the Party Committee, Party cell secretary, and hamlet leader in performing annual political tasks.

Faced with the above situation, in recent years, the Party Committee has mobilized the entire political system to join in. Thanks to that, some initial positive changes have been created in environmental protection activities, but there are still many aspects that have not met the requirements of reality.

It can be seen that in the past, most of the waste was dumped by the people of Dien Ngoc commune along the sea dike, all over the village roads, alleys, and in the dry and rainy seasons, it gave off a foul smell, causing serious environmental pollution. The Party Committee directed the hamlets to establish waste collection teams in 12/12 hamlets from the people's contributions. Each month, the commune allocates over 2 million VND/month from the budget to burn waste.

That has solved the long-standing problem of lack of collection points. However, because the waste is too large and is only processed by manual burning, after 3 years of operation, it has become overloaded. In addition, the commune has coordinated with the Social Policy Bank to lend people preferential capital of 8 million VND/household to build sanitation facilities.

In response to the harsh criticism of the people about the environmental pollution caused by fishmeal processing factories, the locality has submitted a proposal to the superiors to find solutions to overcome the environmental pollution.

Regarding the treatment of pollution in the craft village, the People's Committee of Dien Ngoc commune has purchased chemicals to treat pollution in the filter tanks, but this is only a temporary solution. In the immediate future, the commune has built a clean water line from Dien Chau Clean Water Company to Ngoc Minh village, so that people have clean water for use and daily life.

The locality organized the signing of commitments to ensure environmental protection in production with the facilities. Along with overcoming the above pollution situation, the People's Committee of Dien Ngoc commune reminded and had many strict measures to handle seafood processing families that have not built wastewater treatment systems and biogas tanks.

In response to the commune's proposal, the district regularly inspected and required units to properly implement their commitments on environmental protection and decided to impose administrative penalties and suspend the operations of two units violating environmental protection regulations.

The province has also decided to allow the establishment of an investment project to build a waste treatment system in Ngoc Van seafood processing village, Dien Ngoc commune (Dien Chau). The project has a total investment of up to 73 billion VND, the main source of capital is the State budget. However, up to now, there is still no capital to implement it.

PV:Thus, while the authorities are struggling to find a “solution” to the environmental “problem” in Ngoc Van craft village, the people of Dien Ngoc commune still have to continue living with pollution. According to you, what solutions are needed to effectively solve the environmental problem?

Comrade Dau Xuan Thuy:Developing the marine economy is one of the local spearheads. Developing aquatic and seafood processing is one of the advantages of coastal fishermen. However, to ensure harmony between economic development and the common interests of the community, it is necessary to solve the current environmental pollution situation.

On the commune side, continue to promote environmental propaganda and education to create changes and raise awareness, sense of compliance with environmental protection laws, social responsibility of people, especially raising responsibility and awareness of environmental protection for production units.

At the same time, the locality strengthens the work of grasping the situation, inspecting, checking and monitoring the environment to detect, prevent and promptly and thoroughly handle acts of environmental pollution by organizations and individuals. Resolutely suspending violating production facilities and requiring strict implementation of wastewater and exhaust gas treatment processes.

Collecting waste in Yen Quang hamlet, Dien Ngoc commune (Dien Chau).

Along with that, relevant departments and branches need to strengthen inspections and examinations to detect, rectify and promptly handle cases of environmental incidents, ensuring that they do not affect people's health and lives. If any unit has been requested to remedy the situation but continues to pollute the environment, it will resolutely suspend or suspend production and business activities.

In the long term, we hope that the district and province will soon have a plan to build a wastewater treatment site like the project approved by the Provincial People's Committee so that people can live and work in a clean environment.

PV: Thank you, comrade!

Thanh Le