Further clarification of the case of sludge 'suffocating' the regulating lake
(Baonghean) - A deeper investigation into the incident of sludge from the settling pit system of Hung Vinh Water Plant (Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company) spilling into Cua Nam regulating lake (Vinh City) shows that there are additional issues that need to be further clarified.
Sludge 'kills' the regulating lake: The suspicious origin of the underground sewer!
(Baonghean) - Located 1.7m below the surface of the perimeter road, the underground sewer connecting the sludge settling pit to the Cua Nam regulating lake is the object that needs to be decoded to determine whether the incident of sludge overflowing into the regulating lake was due to an accident or intentional...
Where does the sludge go?
As reported by Nghe An Newspaper in the article: “The case of sludge “suffocating” the regulating lake: The suspicious origin of the underground sewer”, in the investment project file to build a sludge collection and treatment pit of Hung Vinh Water Plant, there was no wastewater discharge pipe connecting to Cua Nam Lake (now Cua Nam regulating lake); the investor, Nghe An Water Supply Company Limited, had a very specific and detailed environmental protection commitment, but there were contents that were not implemented. Expanding the verification of information in recent days, new issues of concern have appeared.
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| Waste sludge floating on Cua Nam regulating lake. Photo: Nhat Lan |
The regulating lake was put into use by Hung Vinh Water Plant and Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company in 2013. In the Environmental Commitment, Nghe An Water Supply Company Limited calculated that each day Hung Vinh Water Plant will discharge 18m3mud, about 6,000m3/year; periodically every 1.5 - 2 years, dredge, collect, transport for treatment.
In Section VIII, Commitment to implementation of the Environmental Protection Commitment (certified by Vinh City People's Committee), the Sludge section clearly states: "Nghe An Water Supply Company Limited signed a contract with Nghe An Urban Environment Company Limited to periodically collect and transport to the city's construction waste collection site in Hung Dong commune or at places permitted by the competent authority (Vinh City People's Committee); collection rate is 100%".
Certificate of registration of Environmental Protection Commitment issued by Vinh City People's Committee to Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company
"The Environmental Services Enterprise has never performed sludge pumping, transportation, or sludge treatment for Hung Vinh Water Plant."
However, verifying at Nghe An Urban Environment and Construction Joint Stock Company (formerly Nghe An Urban Environment One Member Co., Ltd.), the leader of this unit said that there had never been any transactions to treat sludge for Hung Vinh Water Plant. Specifically, Mr. Hoang Van Thang - Deputy Director of Environmental Services Enterprise (Nghe An Urban Environment and Construction Joint Stock Company) said that he was not clear about the contract procedures, but affirmed that the Environmental Services Enterprise had never performed sludge pumping, transportation, and sludge treatment for Hung Vinh Water Plant.
As for the Director of Nghe An Urban Environment and Construction Joint Stock Company - Mr. Phuc Van Phuong, he said that he had asked the Planning - Finance Department, the Business Department and the Environmental Services Enterprise to check, but in recent years, there had been no transactions or implementation of sludge treatment contracts with Hung Vinh Water Plant, Nghe An Water Supply Company Limited, or Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company. Mr. Phuc Van Phuong said: "I have not been the Director of the company for long. Therefore, when Nghe An Newspaper requested verification, I directed the relevant departments to check, including asking the former leaders. However, all answered that there was none...".
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| Taking mud samples for testing. Photo: NL |
During the process of Nghe An Newspaper conveying information about the sludge "suffocating" the regulating lake, an official said that during the period when Vinh City People's Committee upgraded and renovated Cua Nam regulating lake (in 2015), Hung Vinh Water Plant continuously discharged sludge from settling pits into the lake, causing the construction unit to be very dissatisfied. Therefore, they had to send a written report, requesting Vinh City People's Committee to handle this issue.
Verifying the information, this incident did happen. The construction unit of Cua Nam regulating lake project once reported in writing that Hung Vinh Water Plant discharged sediment to the construction site, which was the North Central Traffic Construction Investment Joint Stock Company. The report was made by this company in September 2015.
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| Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company organized the pumping of sludge from the regulating lake back to the settling pit on October 22. Photo: NL |
The investor of the Cua Nam Reservoir Upgrading and Renovation Project, the Vinh Urban Development Subproject Management Board, after receiving the document from the construction unit, invited the representative of the Hung Vinh Water Plant to the site for inspection, then requested to only discharge wastewater and stop discharging sediment to create conditions for the construction unit to dredge the lake bed. However, by October 2015, the Hung Vinh Water Plant continued to discharge sediment. Therefore, the Vinh Urban Development Subproject Management Board had to report in writing to the Vinh City People's Committee...
Need to clarify and strictly handle according to the law
Obviously, the investigation, verification and clarification for handling according to regulations are the responsibility of the competent authorities and authorities. However, through press activities, it is seen that the former Nghe An Water Supply Company Limited, now Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company, has not strictly complied with the Law on Environmental Protection, regulations of the province and Vinh city; at the same time, it has not fully implemented the contents that they have committed to during the implementation and use of the Investment Project to build a collection pit to treat settled sludge of Hung Vinh Water Plant.
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| Environmental protection commitment of Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company when implementing the project of sludge collection and treatment system. |
In Nghe An province, there are many units and businesses licensed to operate in the field of mineral resource exploitation, the production and business process often has negative impacts on the environment.
To operate, these units and enterprises must have commitments to protect the environment. However, there have been many units and enterprises that did not fully comply and were punished. However, most of these units and enterprises are located in remote and mountainous areas, far from residential areas, making management difficult.
As for Hung Vinh Water Plant and Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company, located right in the center of Vinh city. Therefore, letting sludge overflow into Cua Nam regulating lake, a project that Nghe An province and Vinh city had to borrow foreign capital to invest in building to create urban landscape, regulate climate, environment, drainage... is unacceptable.
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| Water pollution and fish deaths have occurred. Photo: NL |
Regarding this incident, it must also be seen that the authorities at all levels, in this case the People's Committee of Vinh City and the People's Committees of Cua Nam and Dong Vinh wards, have not clearly demonstrated their role in state management in the field of environmental protection.
The reason for saying this is because according to the provisions of the Law on Environmental Protection, these are the two levels of government responsible for supervising the discharge activities into the environment of Hung Vinh Water Plant during the process of this unit producing clean water.
However, there was a situation where the enterprise built the sludge collection pit that did not comply with the planning design; when the sludge collection pit was put into use, the enterprise still discharged sludge into the environment without timely inspection, reminders, and treatment. The management and supervision work was not good, leading to the incident of discharging sludge into Cua Nam regulating lake on October 21, 2019.
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| The underground drain discharges sludge into the regulating lake. Photo: NL |
Regarding the incident of Hung Vinh Water Plant’s sludge spilling into Cua Nam regulating lake, there is a bright spot that needs to be noted. That is the role of the people in Cua Nam and Dong Vinh wards. Because immediately after the discovery, the people were aware of the negative impacts that a large amount of sludge could have on the environment, so that they could promptly inform the authorities and relevant agencies to intervene and inspect and handle the situation.
Following the case, we know that the sludge samples have been analyzed and tested; the relevant authorities are continuing to investigate and verify. Currently, people are waiting for the results of the handling, but these are the necessary tasks that the authorities must perform, in order to provide a basis to ensure legality to help the competent authorities handle the case according to the provisions of the law.
Just to add that, regardless of the results of the assessment of the sludge discharged into the regulating lake by Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company, with such behavior, the company's awareness of complying with environmental protection regulations is very poor and needs to be rectified and strictly handled.
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| Nghe An Newspaper reporter and urban order officers of Cua Nam ward measure the depth of the underground sewer discharging sludge. Photo: Ha Giang |
