Handmade brick kilns and negative impacts: Part 1: Smoke, dust and consequences!
Not only does it leave hundreds of hectares of agricultural land abandoned, handmade brick kilns also cause frustration for people because of smoke and dust!
Nearly a dozen handmade brick kilns located close together along the Ke Gai River, bordering Hung Dong Commune (Vinh City) and Hung Tay Commune (Hung Nguyen), are directly affecting agricultural production and the health of people in these two localities. A few dozen steps away from the house of Mr. Tran Van Ngo's family, Trung Thanh Hamlet (Hung Dong Commune), there are two handmade brick kilns operating. Mr. Ngo is very upset: "The smoke from the brick kilns carries heat, making it difficult for plants to survive. My family's garden of more than 4 sao used to grow all kinds of vegetables, but now there is only a patch of banana leaves that have all been burned. Even the well water smells of smoke, so households here have to fill in their open wells to dig drilled wells for use."
Manual brick kilns have negative impacts on the environment.
Previously, along with Mr. Ngo's family, there were more than twenty other households living in this area, but then any household with a little bit of money tried to leave this place, even though this was the land they had been attached to for generations. Now, there are only 12 households left. According to Mr. Ngo, 4 people have died of lung cancer and many people have respiratory diseases. In addition, the rice yield in the fields has also decreased, and there are seasons when it is completely lost. Mr. Ngo's rice field has a yield of 3 quintals/sao when the brick kiln is not burned, but when the brick kiln is burned, it only has a yield of about 2 quintals, and sometimes it is completely lost.
In Trung My hamlet, due to digging the soil to make bricks too deep, many ditch banks have collapsed, affecting the water supply to the rice fields. People have petitioned the commune and the city many times about the negative impacts from the manual brick kilns, but the final result has only stopped at the commitment of the brick kiln owners not to burn the kilns when the rice has 2 young leaves and when the rice is forming panicles. However, when the price of bricks is high, the brick kiln owners still burn the kilns and accept to compensate the people for production, many times 100%". Mr. Nguyen Van Hung - a resident in the hamlet was upset: "That's how production is, but who will compensate and take responsibility for the health of the people?!".
Not only the people in Hung Dong commune but also the people in many places in the province are suffering because of the manual brick kilns. In Nghi Hoa commune (Nghi Loc), at the peak time, there were 18 manual brick kilns operating. Mr. Nguyen Van Huong - Chairman of Nghi Hoa Commune People's Committee, admitted: The environmental pollution caused by manual brick kilns in the commune is very clear, directly affecting the traffic participants on Provincial Road 534 and the people of hamlets 1, hamlets 2, Nghi Phuong commune; Van Tai hamlet, Nghi Hoa commune. In addition to the impact on the environment and production, many areas of agricultural land have been exploited and become deep ponds that cannot be cultivated. If they are rehabilitated, it will be very difficult...".
People's gardens around the area had their leaves burned.
Maintaining the production of manual brick kilns has turned hundreds of hectares of agricultural land with good soil quality into wasteland. Hung Dong commune (Vinh city) alone has about 10 hectares and Nghi Hoa commune (Nghi Loc) has over 15 hectares. Mr. Doan Tri Tue - Former Head of Technical Department, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, affirmed: "The land used to make burnt bricks must be clay soil, this type of soil is very good for rice production. If rice is grown, each hectare will yield an average of 11 - 12 tons/2 crops/year, equivalent to 65 to 73 million VND/ha/year. If rice is grown, livestock and aquaculture are raised, the income value will increase by 10 - 15%.
If brick production, although the income is higher, about 1 - 2 billion VND/ha, depending on the exploited clay layer of 1 meter or 2 meters, (equal to 10 - 20 years of rice production or rice production combined with livestock), but the brick production area is only used once, then abandoned, losing the rice growing area, affecting food security. According to Mr. Tue, there are currently many advanced brick production technologies that operate very effectively, so it is not necessary to maintain ancient and very backward manual brick kilns in the present era.
The biggest impact of handmade brick kilns is on the environment and people's health. Mr. Bach Hung Cu - Head of the Department of Environmental Impact Assessment and Assessment, Provincial Department of Environmental Protection, affirmed: From an environmental perspective, handmade brick kilns have had and are having a very negative impact on the environment. Using firewood to burn the kiln also leads to deforestation, reducing forest cover, and burning coal will emit a large amount of CO2, which is one of the causes of the greenhouse effect and climate change. It is also an unreasonable use of land resources, causing great waste.
Mr. Le Tuan Anh - Head of the Department of Labor Medicine and Occupational Diseases, Provincial Preventive Medicine Center: From a health perspective, the operation of manual brick kilns has a very negative impact. First of all, workers directly working in manual brick kilns often do not have labor protection equipment, in an environment full of pollution from noise, temperature, dust, to toxic gases. When the kiln is burned, not only workers in the brick kilns but also people in the surrounding area have to bear the pollution of smoke, dust and gas from burning coal, clay, especially toxic CO gas, causing dizziness, suffocation, and even fainting for those who inhale it; silica oxide gas causes occupational silicosis and other respiratory diseases such as chronic bronchitis, respiratory tract infections, etc. |
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