Tuong Duong: Many clean water projects are abandoned.

(Baonghean) -A few years ago, every time I followed National Highway 7 up to Tuong Duong district in the afternoon, I often saw the happy images of adults and children washing clothes, bathing... next to the community clean water works. Now, that image is rare, because there is no water, many clean water works are abandoned.

Belonging to Khe Bo village, the center of Tam Quang commune, but the community clean water project (including 1 water tank and 4 shower rooms) of residential area 487 has been almost completely wiped out. Currently, two shower rooms have become extremely unsanitary public toilets, the remaining 2 shower rooms belong to Mr. Hoang Nhu Mao's family. When asked, Mr. Hoang Nhu Mao said that the clean water source is brought in through a pipeline from Nhung village. Previously, the entire residential area 478 and people passing by who needed to bathe used the same community clean water project. Because the pipeline is small and branches to many community clean water projects in the commune, the water flow is too weak, only occasionally does water reach the tank, and people have nothing to use. Currently, the pipeline is degraded, there is no clean water, so Lam River water has to be pumped up to the tank for domestic use. "Every three days, my family pumps water from the Lam River to fill the tank and then leads it down to the filter tank to get water for drinking and daily activities. Because there has been no water for quite a long time, the community clean water project has become like this..." - Mr. Mao said.





The community clean water project in residential area 487 and Son Ha village is abandoned.

Not far from Khe Bo village, at the Son Ha village cultural house, there is a community clean water project consisting of a water tank and a bathroom. Currently, the tank is empty, the bathroom has lost its door, the water taps are broken, and the project is surrounded by garbage and bushes... I asked a middle-aged man from Son Ha village: Why don't people preserve and protect the project to have clean water to use? This man said that because there was no water for many years, the project was abandoned and destroyed by children and cows. He said: "Don't blame the villagers. People really value clean water, everyone is happy when clean water is brought in, but after a while there is no more water. I asked the officials but they didn't see anyone repairing it, so the villagers left it like that...".

Right at the beginning of Tam Bong village, close to Highway 7, there is also a community clean water project that is abandoned. And just like what we witnessed in Son Ha village, the tank here has no water, the bathroom has no door, two water taps are broken... Kha Thi May, whose house is next to the clean water project, said that for more than 2 years the tank has not had a single drop of clean water because the pipe is broken. With no water to use, May's parents had to dig a well to get water for daily use.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Nam (whose house is next to National Highway 7, in Tam Bong village), the time Tam Bong people have access to clean water is very short, only a few months. The village has 7-8 community clean water projects, but because the water pipes are small, the water source from the stream is not enough for all the tanks; at the same time, after a period of use, the pipes are damaged, so most of Tam Bong's community clean water projects are abandoned and degraded...

It is known that in Tuong Duong district, not only Tam Quang commune but also Tam Dinh, Tam Thai, Nga My, Xieng My communes... also have many clean water works that have been damaged, abandoned or not working. For this reason, many households are having difficulty finding clean water sources for use. Many families do not have money to dig wells, build settling tanks, so they have to use spring water, river water for daily activities, eating and drinking... To ensure people's health and not waste the State's invested money, it is recommended that the Tuong Duong district government direct the communes to review and re-examine the community clean water system to promptly take measures to fix and repair it and put it into use.

Nhat Lan