In the article “Many lakes and canals in Vinh City are polluted: A pressing problem!” Published on February 9, 2023, Nghe An Newspaper mentioned the questioning session on December 15, 2022, the 7th session of Vinh City People's Council, on selecting and organizing questioning on environmental pollution management and treatment in a number of lakes and canals in the area.
Therefore, it is necessary to inform the content of Notice No. 170/TB-HĐND Conclusion of the questioning session at the 7th session issued on December 20, 2022 of the Vinh City People's Council. The City People's Council assesses:“The question and answer session took place in a democratic, lively, constructive atmosphere, highly appreciated by voters and public opinion. The City People's Council delegates asked questions frankly, responsibly, and on current issues that are of interest to many voters and people. The leaders of the City People's Committee, heads of departments, offices, and related city units assigned to them clearly understood their assigned functions and tasks and the current status of the issues raised by the City People's Council delegates, and answered the questions to the point, clearly, and fully; at the same time, they explained and clarified the contents of the City People's Council delegates' concerns.”
The Vinh City People's Council assigned the City People's Committee and the Chairman of the City People's Committee to direct specialized departments and relevant units to resolutely, promptly and synchronously implement the solutions stated in the question and answer report to overcome limitations, remove difficulties and obstacles to create clear changes in the content of the questions and reports at the regular mid-year meeting of the City People's Council in 2023.
To achieve good results in the management and treatment of environmental pollution in some lakes and canals, the City People's Council emphasizes the following key contents:“There needs to be a full and scientific assessment of the causes of technical infrastructure and operations, and proposals for fundamental and appropriate solutions to completely resolve the problem of environmental pollution in lakes and canals in the area. Improve the efficiency of management and operation of the drainage system, ensure the correct approved procedures, and prevent wastewater from overflowing into lakes and canals. Organize surveys and assess the amount of accumulated sludge in each lake and canal to develop a plan to dredge the amount of sludge in lakes and canals. Assign relevant specialized departments to advise on the comprehensive management and operation of this public asset, clearly defining responsibilities, not only managing drainage but also managing technical infrastructure, trees, environmental sanitation, etc.
It is necessary to develop a management coordination regulation between drainage management units, local authorities and enterprises in lake management and exploitation; determine the main responsibilities and coordination in lake management and environmental pollution treatment when incidents occur. Allocate funds for maintenance and repair of technical infrastructure, dredging of sediment, planting trees, and handling of environmental incidents. Invest in and increase the capacity of the centralized wastewater treatment plant in Hung Hoa commune (currently 25,000m3/day and night), Pumping Station No. 1. Regularly organize inspections and checks on management, operation, and environmental pollution treatment. There must be strict enough sanctions to handle and assign responsibility to organizations and individuals who violate environmental protection issues...
Strengthen propaganda and education work, raise awareness of environmental protection, preserve landscapes in ponds and lakes; direct People's Committees of wards, communes, and functional agencies to strengthen inspections and strictly punish cases of littering causing environmental pollution. Strengthen mobilization of people's strength, socialize people's resources in traffic, irrigation, construction, dredging of canals, and treatment of environmental pollution right from the source.
Speaking with Nghe An Newspaper, Mr. Tran Quang Lam - Vice Chairman of Vinh City People's Committee acknowledged that the pollution situation in many lakes and canals in the area is really worrying. Therefore, the key contents raised by the City People's Council are accurate and correct, and the City People's Committee is urgently implementing them. Specifically, from December 30, 2022, the City People's Committee issued Document No. 7021/UBND-TNMT assigning tasks to each department, office and related units to implement the contents after the questioning of the 7th session of the City People's Council.
Currently, the relevant departments, offices and units are focusing on implementing the assigned tasks. However, the Vice Chairman of Vinh City People's Committee also expressed his concern: "The existing problems and limitations have all been reported and explained at the 7th session of the City People's Council. However, to completely resolve the problem of lake and canal pollution in the area, there are really many difficulties and challenges facing the city, especially in terms of resources!"
Regarding the issue of resources, according to Mr. Tran Quang Lam, the city's administrative budget is very limited and cannot meet the need to handle all the problems at the same time. Mr. Lam cited an example: to completely dredge the sludge in Vinh Tan Lake, the lake management unit calculated that it would need about 14 billion VND. Meanwhile, the city's annual budget for the management, operation, wastewater treatment, and dredging of sludge in some weak canals is only 4 billion VND.
Resources are limited, so in parallel with the direction to focus on reviewing the entire system of lakes, canals, and related ditches and the management and operation of wastewater treatment, the city has directed the implementation of a number of temporary solutions. Specifically, a plan is being built to clear some lakes and canals with foul odors, including the Citadel moat and the North canal; these areas, when there is a system of canals to dilute and clean the water, will solve the problem of odor pollution.
The next solution is to develop a plan to dredge sludge in lakes and canals. For lakes managed and exploited by enterprises (including Central Lake, Tecco Lake, Vinh Tan Regulating Lake), the city directs functional departments and People's Committees of relevant wards and communes to work and request enterprises to develop plans and have plans to dredge sludge. For lakes managed by the State, direct surveys, make estimates and plans to allocate resources to organize dredging sludge. The city has also directed to focus on propaganda and mobilization work for organizations and households throughout the area to maintain environmental hygiene and not discharge waste into lakes and canals. One solution that will be implemented soon is to mobilize resources to plant some aquatic plants in lakes and canals to reduce water pollution...
“The city’s drainage infrastructure is still inadequate, weak, and unsynchronized. Therefore, the city focuses on directing the urgent implementation of immediate solutions to minimize pollution. We need to look further, when the city invests in upgrading and increasing the capacity of pumping stations and centralized wastewater treatment plants; and at the same time implements the Priority Infrastructure Project and Urban Development Adapting to Climate Change in Vinh City, then we can hope to fundamentally solve the problem of environmental pollution in lakes and canals…” – Vice Chairman of Vinh City People’s Committee Tran Quang Lam emphasized.
Recently, the city's wastewater operation and treatment have had some unfortunate incidents. For example, in the North Canal, since November 2022, sludge has settled in some sewers, separation wells, and manholes, leading to congestion and wastewater backlogs in the canal. This incident has not yet been resolved due to lack of funding. Or recently, on February 8, the Centralized Wastewater Treatment Plant experienced an explosion of the No. 5 air blower transformer while operating, leading to a decrease in wastewater treatment capacity...
But besides that, there has been positive information. That is, Handico Vinh Tan Urban Development Investment Joint Stock Company (1 of 3 enterprises assigned by the State to manage and exploit the lake) has agreed to develop a plan and organize a comprehensive dredging of Vinh Tan ecological lake. The company's General Director, Mr. Nguyen Van An, informed: "The Board of Directors decided to assign the company to survey, make estimates, hire a professional dredging unit with machinery, barges... to comprehensively dredge the lake."
The solution to plant some aquatic plants that Mr. Tran Quang Lam discussed above is feasible. This is confirmed by the fact that in September 2022, the People's Committee of Cua Nam Ward will test-plant three types of lotus, water lily and water bamboo in the moat of the Citadel. For lotus and water lily, we need to wait until summer, when these two types of plants grow, to have an accurate assessment. As for water bamboo, it is growing very well. Water bamboo is a type of plant that can treat wastewater, is easy to grow, and does not cost too much money, so it is really suitable for replication and treatment of water and mud pollution in lakes and canals of Vinh city.
