"My family never had clean water, we only had to use spring water."
Khe Quynh village, Xieng My commune (Tuong Duong) formerly lived in Luan Mai commune, in the Ban Ve Hydropower reservoir area. In 2009, implementing the policy of moving people out of the reservoir area, people resettled in Xieng My commune. Currently, the village has 90 households with nearly 400 people. After more than 4 years of moving to their new place, the people of Khe Quynh village still face many difficulties, of which the most pressing problem is the lack of clean water...
(Baonghean)Khe Quynh village, Xieng My commune (Tuong Duong) formerly lived in Luan Mai commune, in the Ban Ve Hydropower reservoir area. In 2009, implementing the policy of moving people out of the reservoir area, people resettled in Xieng My commune. Currently, the village has 90 households with nearly 400 people. After more than 4 years of moving to their new place, the people of Khe Quynh village still face many difficulties, of which the most pressing problem is the lack of clean water...
Clean water tanks in Khe Quynh village, Xieng My commune (Tuong Duong) are all empty.
When asked why Khe Quynh people had to use stream water for daily activities, Mr. Lo Van Ba, the village chief, said: “Before returning to Xieng My for resettlement, the staff of the Hydropower Plant 2 Management Board told the villagers that the clean water system had been completely installed, and they could have clean water freely. But when they returned, only a few tanks still contained water, the rest were dry. Hundreds of people had to crowd around the tanks to wait their turn to get water. A few months later, the water in the tanks gradually decreased, and now all the tanks are dry. People have to go down to the stream to get water for daily activities. Recently, the streams have begun to show signs of pollution, and some people have gotten itchy and rash all over their bodies…”. To prove his words, Mr. Ba led us to check all the water tanks in the village. In fact, all the water tanks in the village had no water, and the bathrooms, toilets, and floors were seriously degraded!
While carrying water from the stream, Ms. Luong Thi Hang confided: “Since moving to Khe Quynh, my family has never had clean water, we have had to use stream water. For several years now, there has not been a single tank with water. I heard that building a clean water system cost hundreds of millions of dong, and now it has to be abandoned, what a waste. Meanwhile, our village is suffering from lack of water?!”
Faced with this reality, relevant units need to conduct a survey to find timely solutions, avoid wasting State money and ensure that Khe Quynh villagers have clean water for daily use!
Tuong Anh
