Many self-flowing clean water works are degraded and damaged.

(Baonghean) -During a recent working session with us to learn about the results of implementing ethnic policies in Quy Chau district, Mr. Lang Van Thanh - Head of the district's Ethnic Affairs Department said: Unlike basic construction projects of electricity - roads - schools - stations, the State's investment has really brought a new look to the mountainous countryside of Quy Chau, the self-flowing clean water projects in the area are not effective.

Quy Chau district has 12 communes and towns, almost each commune and town has 1 to 2 self-flowing domestic water works. With a common investment level of about 1 billion VND and the largest is about 2.4 billion VND/work, from many different sources, from Program 135, non-governmental funding projects and sponsored enterprises. It can be said that with dozens of works, the total investment for self-flowing water works in Quy Chau is not small. For many reasons, self-flowing water works have not been effective. Except for objective factors due to weather conditions, changing water flow... causing some water works in Chau Hoi and Chau Hanh communes to not be "supplied" with water, leading to the works losing their effectiveness. Through investigation, the status of items and water works is degraded and damaged, mostly due to subjective reasons.

The centralized water tank in Nong village, Chau Thuan commune was abandoned.

Most of the self-flowing clean water projects, due to the design stage, the local consulting role was not taken seriously, so when the design was completed, the installation was not suitable. This is most clearly shown in the self-flowing clean water project in Chau Thuan commune, which was first constructed in 2002. According to the design, after completion, it will supply water to nearly 400 households. Through 2 construction phases and then one repair. Initially, the project made water pipes of cast iron and plastic, but after use, they broke, then had to be changed to soft plastic pipes. Therefore, the entire project only cost about 800 million VND, but the repair cost was up to 380 million VND. Put into use since 2011, up to now, the project has only supplied water to the upper routes, while the lower routes are degrading and damaged.

Mr. Cam Ba Kinh, Vice Chairman of Chau Thuan Commune People's Committee, explained: Due to poor awareness, when people need water, they arbitrarily go out and drill the common pipe running through their house to get water. Households at the upstream have open pipes, flowing all day, and at the downstream, the water is weak, the storage tanks at some points are dry...

The above situation does not only occur in Chau Thuan commune. An official of the People's Committee of Quy Chau district frankly said: With the current authority and mechanism, the People's Committee at the commune level can completely handle it through the issuance of regulations. In fact, regardless of the investment source, when the project is completed, it is handed over to the local government for management. The people benefit, along with the responsibility of management and maintenance. However, due to the mentality of relying on it for too long, both the people and the government are indifferent and lack awareness of preservation and protection!

The water intake valve is broken.

Right in Quy Chau, there are models that need to be learned and replicated. That is the self-flowing clean water project, with people contributing money, in Le village (Chau Hoi commune), 12 households, each contributing 1 million VND, they worked together to build tanks, buy water supply pipes and carefully maintain them. Thanks to that, water for daily life has been stable and clean for several years now. In Chau Binh commune, with an investment capital of 2.4 billion VND and expected to supply water to 600 households of 3 villages. However, instead of doing the self-flowing water project in the old way of building pipes to take self-flowing water from the source to the centralized tanks, the commune decided to change the model, bringing pipes to each house without building tanks. It is known that Chau Binh commune People's Committee is piloting the establishment of a monitoring team and moving towards collecting water usage fees to raise funds for maintenance and repair, ensuring sufficient supply capacity.

To improve the effectiveness of programs and projects for mountainous areas in general and water projects in particular, in our opinion, the State must develop a mechanism to evaluate and effectively monitor investment projects and support projects for mountainous areas, in which specific responsibilities are assigned to local and village authorities in the management and protection of projects.

Article and photos: Nguyen Hai