Hot weather, many households in Nghe An coastal area have to buy water by the bottle

Mr. Bui Van Hue's family in Hamlet 1, Son Hai Commune (Quynh Luu) has 7 members. Every month, he buys up to 8 cubic meters of water for daily use in Lach Quen for 340,000 VND. Although the family has invested in a rainwater tank and drilled underground water, the amount of rainwater stored is not enough to serve the hot season, and the underground water is heavily contaminated with salt and alum, so it can only be used for bathing, not for drinking.

The underground water source is contaminated with salt and alum, so people in Son Hai commune (Quynh Luu) often have to buy water from water trucks. Photo: Hong Dien

That is also the situation of hundreds of households in Son Hai commune - one of the localities with the most shortage of domestic water in Quynh Luu district. The whole Son Hai commune has 3,446 households, 13,800 people, most of which are in the same situation of lacking domestic water. Every year, people spend from 2 to 3 million VND to buy water for drinking and cooking.

Some households in small alleys have to invest more money to buy water pipes to bring water to their homes. Photo: Hong Dien

Not only in Son Hai commune, but also in coastal communes such as Quynh Tho, Quynh Thuan... people are "thirsty" for domestic water during the hot season. With the commune having many alleys, water trucks cannot reach every house, so the further away the household is from the main road, the higher the cost of buying domestic water.

During the non-summer months, an average household only has to buy 1 water tank of about 3-4 cubic meters/month, but in the summer it increases to 8-12 cubic meters/month, and the cost of domestic water also increases many times.

In coastal communes of Dien Chau, people have to drill for underground water for use. Photo: Quang An

Dien Ngoc Commune, Dien Chau District is also one of the coastal localities with a serious shortage of domestic water. According to statistics, the whole commune currently has about 1,000 households without tap water systems for use, concentrated in Dong Loc, Yen Thinh, and Tay Loc hamlets.

Mr. Tran Quoc Viet in Dong Loc hamlet (Dien Ngoc) said: "Because there is no hygienic tap water, people mainly have to use drilled water because most of the rainwater tanks have run out. The drilled water is contaminated with salt and alum, so many people have suffered from skin diseases such as rashes...".

Well water is heavily polluted. Photo: Quang An

Mr. Nguyen Van Dung - Vice Chairman of Dien Ngoc Commune People's Committee said: "Previously, the tap water system covered all hamlets, however, from 2016 until now, some water pipes have been damaged, leading to the inability to supply water to the people. Currently, we have requested the superiors together with Dien Chau Water Plant to urgently repair the pipes to serve the people".

People living along the coast of Dien Chau invest in water filters to have water for daily use. Photo: Quang An

The weather is hot, the demand for water is high, however, due to the lack of clean tap water, people living along the coast of Dien Chau have had to invest in buying water filters for daily use. Those households that do not have the means have to go to shops to buy bottles of water for daily use, which is both time-consuming and expensive.

Many households do not have the means so they have to buy individual bottles of water at 10,000 VND each for daily use. Photo: Quang An

According to a report by the Nghe An Center for Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation, there are currently about 400,000 rural residents in Nghe An lacking clean water. People want the tap water systems to operate smoothly to ensure a source of water for daily use, especially during the hot season./.