Nam Thanh residents are having to use polluted water.
(Baonghean) For many years, people in Nam Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) have had to live with a serious lack of clean water.
For example, in Loc Thanh hamlet, there are 182 households, over 90% of which have rainwater tanks, but the tanks are small so people can only use them for 3-4 months, the rest of the time there is a lack of water for daily activities. People have to use stagnant water from ponds for daily activities. To reduce the use of polluted water sources, over 10 households in Loc Thanh have invested about 8-10 million VND/household to buy plastic pipes to bring water from the canal. Every year, the cost of repairing broken pipes is about 2-3 million VND/household.
Mr. Nguyen Van Vinh confided: The family built a rainwater tank of about 6 m3, which is very economical to use, but after about 3 months the water runs out, so we have to use pond water, and when the river closes, the pond water also runs out. We spent over 4 million VND drilling a well, and both wells were contaminated with salt.
However, due to lack of water, people still have to accept bathing in well water, then bathing again with pond water or rainwater. Not to mention that using well water to wash motorbikes quickly causes rust, clothes fade, and get damaged quickly... The biggest concern now is that people in Loc Thanh and Vinh Thanh hamlets are having to use polluted water from duck farms. In hamlets in the upper areas such as Phan Dang Luu, Phan Boi Chau, Hop Thanh... people mainly drill wells, but most of them use contaminated salt water.
Lack of water for daily use, people have to go to canals to wash clothes.
Mr. Phan The Trung - Chairman of Nam Thanh Commune People's Committee said: Nam Thanh is a semi-mountainous commune, with 9 hamlets and 1,407 households. The problem of clean water for daily life has been very difficult for a long time. From September to the end of December, due to the closure of the river, there is a serious shortage of water for daily life. Surface water from canals and ditches is heavily polluted by pesticides and herbicides. Since 2003, the commune has received support from the Da Ni Da Project to build over 200 rainwater tanks, mainly prioritizing poor households. However, because the tanks are small, they are only enough for about 2-3 months, the rest of the time there is a shortage of water.
In the new rural construction, the commune has planned a water plant located on the east side of Nong Giang River with a capacity of over 1000 m3/day and night. Nam Thanh is in dire need of investment and support from the State to build a water plant to provide clean water for the people.
Van Truong
