Water source contaminated with Arsenic, Quy Hop district proposes to relocate water intake gate

Is raw water replacement being neglected?

(Baonghean) - In 2017, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment announced that the raw water source exploited and used by Quy Hop Water Supply Station for domestic water production was polluted, requiring businesses to find a new alternative water source. However, up to now, the raw water source continues to have arsenic parameters exceeding the standard.

On August 7, the People's Committee of Quy Hop district issued document No. 651/UBND-TN to the Provincial People's Committee regarding the request to relocate the water intake gate of Quy Hop Water Supply Station.

The document stated that Quy Hop town has about 11,000 people/2,300 households using clean water for daily life produced and supplied by Quy Hop Water Supply Station. The raw water source that Quy Hop Water Supply Station exploits and uses is from the upstream of Nam Huong stream. Meanwhile, the upstream of Nam Huong stream has 3 licensed tin mines.

A tin mining area at the headwaters of Nam Huong stream.

During the ore enrichment processing, in the environmental impact assessment report, enterprises do not have the technology to separate heavy metals from waste. Therefore, heavy metals are discharged with waste in large quantities, then the heavy metals dissolve into the water of Nam Huong stream, to the water intake of Nam Huong stream.

Officials of Quy Hop town People's Committee sealed Nam Huong spring water samples for testing.

When heavy metals enter the water treatment plant, there is no technology to separate heavy metals from the domestic water supplied to households. Therefore, heavy metals will reach households in the domestic water source provided by the plant. From the above process, heavy metals from tin mines reaching households is natural, especially during floods.

According to the two conclusions of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment on December 25, 2017 and July 17, 2019, the raw water source input of Quy Hop Water Supply Station has parameters of TSS, Arsenic, Chromium... exceeding the permitted standards. In particular, the second conclusion stated: "... a heavy metal parameter As (Arsenic) exceeds 1.3 times compared to the standard QCVN08/MT:2015/BTNMTG column A2...".

Document 651/UBND-TN of Quy Hop District People's Committee.

To eliminate heavy metals in the water supplied by the factory to households, the People's Committee of Quy Hop district proposed three solutions: One is to revoke the licenses and suspend the exploitation activities of the enterprises; two is to have households not use water from the water factory; three is to move the water intake of the water factory (inlet) to another location where the upstream location does not exploit or process tin ore.

According to the People's Committee of Quy Hop district, the first two solutions are difficult to implement. Because if the licenses that have been granted and production of tin mines are suspended, the state will have to pay compensation and affect socio-economic factors; while water is an indispensable factor in people's lives.

Quy Hop District People's Committee urgently said: "This issue has been repeatedly raised by voters and People's Council delegates at People's Council meetings. At the same time, many press agencies have reported it but there are no signs of positive changes."

At the 6th session of the People's Council of Quy Hop district held in July 2018, the issue of polluted raw water sources received attention from voters, with many questions raised.

In addition, the People's Committee of Quy Hop district informed: In the past time, the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee and the People's Committee of Quy Hop district have repeatedly made recommendations to Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company, Quy Hop Water Supply Station and reported to the Provincial People's Committee and related departments and branches, but this issue has not been resolved.

At the same time, the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee and the People's Committee of Quy Hop District directed the People's Committee of Quy Hop Town and related sectors to propagate and mobilize households to invest in drilling wells to use underground water or invest in rainwater tanks for use, minimizing the use of water sources provided by water plants. However, due to economic difficulties, only a few households have the conditions to do so. The majority of the rest do not have the conditions, so they still use water sources provided by the plant.

In Quy Hop town, some families have had to spend tens of millions of dong to drill through rock layers to find a source of water for daily use.

From this reality, the People's Committee of Quy Hop district proposed the Provincial People's Committee: Direct Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company to relocate the water intake of Quy Hop Water Supply Station at the downstream location of Nam Choong stream flowing from Nam Son, Bac Son, Chau Ly, Chau Thai communes, the upstream of which has no mineral exploitation. This location has been determined by the District People's Committee, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and related departments and branches.

In case Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company does not relocate the water intake of Quy Hop Water Supply Station, it calls on investors to invest in a domestic water supply system to ensure quality for the people of Quy Hop town.

Regarding the contents stated in document 651/UBND-TN of the People's Committee of Quy Hop district, from 2018 to present, Nghe An Newspaper has also had many news and articles reflecting; on August 8, it continued to inform about this issue in the article: "Is the replacement of raw water sources being forgotten?".