Many Vinh city residents are upset because their domestic water is dirty and has a fishy smell.

For many days now, Ms. Tran NS (38 years old, Le Mao ward, Vinh city) has had to use a water filter to filter the water for daily use. This is not only inconvenient, but also costs more money on electricity. "I even have to filter it several times before I dare to take a bath. If I don't filter it, it's very dirty and has a fishy smell. Every time I take a bath, I feel itchy and afraid of getting sick," Ms. S. said indignantly, while also providing many videos and images of the cloudy water coming out of the tap.

Ms. S. said that this situation started happening nearly 3 months ago. At that time, she called the hotline of Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company to report, but no one came to check. “They only answered over the phone that they were repairing the road, so the pipeline was damaged. They told us to be patient for a few days, but now several months have passed and it is still the same, even worse,” Ms. S. said.

Domestic water at Ms. S's house has just been discharged. Photo: NDCC

Similar to Ms. S., Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung (36 years old, Hung Loc commune, Vinh city) said that his family has had to use dirty water for more than 2 months. “Every week, it happens about 4 days. We empty bucket after bucket but it still gets dirty and cloudy. When we asked, they said there was a problem with the water pipes. The house does not have a well, there is no other way, the whole family has to accept using dirty water. They still collect money regularly, but the water is still dirty, there is no treatment,” said Mr. Dung.

In Hung Chinh commune, Mr. Tran Trung Kien - Secretary of the Commune Party Committee said that about 2 months ago, many households in the commune also faced a similar situation. The commune then contacted Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company to have a dialogue with the people. "At the dialogue, the company explained that it was due to a water pipe problem and committed to fixing it soon. However, the water only lasted for a few days and then returned to normal," Mr. Kien said.

Images of dirty water shared by people on social networks. Photo: Facebook

The company also went to some houses to collect water samples. The pictures show that the water is pitch black and has sediment at the bottom. Photo: Tien Hung

Speaking to Nghe An Newspaper reporters, Mr. Le Dinh Hoan - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company acknowledged this situation and accepted the company's responsibility. "I admit that the water when it reaches many households is really dirty and does not guarantee quality. As the water supplier and the one collecting money from the people, we accept responsibility," Mr. Hoan said, adding that this situation has now spread throughout Vinh City.

According to Mr. Hoan, this situation started to happen about 2.5 to 3 months ago. And it has spread in the past few days. From 0:00 to 15:00 on June 14 alone, the company received 188 phone calls from people reporting dirty and turbid water.

Black water at a house in Vinh City after it was discharged. Photo: NDCC

“At first, we also determined that the cause was due to the road construction process violating the domestic water pipes or it could also be due to the pipes being old and rusty,” Mr. Hoan said, adding that the company has now ruled out these two causes. Because in the past, every time this situation happened, the company just had to flush the pipes, and the water quality would be clean again. However, for nearly 3 months now, Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company has been continuously flushing the pipes but still has no results. In fact, the situation is getting worse.

“We have conducted internal inspections and water quality tests at the factory and the quality is still guaranteed, but after passing through the pipeline system and reaching people’s homes, it is dirty and turbid. Currently, we have taken water samples from households to send to Da Nang to test more than 100 scientific indicators, then we can start researching and identifying the cause. Once we find the cause, we can have a long-term solution,” said Mr. Hoan.

This situation has been going on for 3 months now, and has spread to many households in the past few days. The cause is still unknown. Photo: NDCC

Regarding the temporary plan, Mr. Le Dinh Hoan said that the company is contacting many units to rent tankers to supply water to affected households. “Currently, we have rented 5 tankers. In the immediate future, through customer feedback calls, we will isolate the area and temporarily shut off the water valve. Then, we will send tankers to temporarily supply water to households. However, because the infrastructure does not allow it, we cannot send tankers to each household. We hope people will understand,” Mr. Hoan added.

Meanwhile, Mr. Chu Trong Trang - Deputy Director in charge of the Center for Disease Control of Nghe An province said that the unit has also sent staff to households to collect water samples for testing of scientific indicators. However, it will take about 1 week to get the results. "If the results show that the water does not meet quality standards, we will recommend that the competent authority impose a fine," Mr. Trang said.

Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company has 96,000 customers in Vinh City. The company's average annual revenue is up to 250 billion VND.