The Government plans to spend VND3.3 trillion (US$194 million) between 2008 and 2020 on environmental protection projects aimed at stopping water pollution in the Nhue-Day river basin.
The projects are being funded by central and provincial budgets, the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, domestic and foreign donors, investment of enterprises located in valley area, non-refundable aids and preferential credit.
The projects, the third Master Plan related to protecting river basins approved by the Prime Minister this year, are aimed at speeding up the sustainable development of provinces, especially those located on river basins, according to Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Nguyen Cong Thanh.
Two other plans are working on the Cau River basin in the north and the Dong Nai River area in the south.
According to the plan, by 2020 cities and provinces located in the area’s river basins will have adequate water supply and drainage and waste-water treatment systems. Eighty per cent of urban areas and 100 per cent of industrial, processing and high-tech zones in basin areas will be required to install concentrated waste water-treatment systems.
All urban solid waste will be collected and all harmful solid waste will be treated, providing 100 per cent of the urban population and 95 per cent of the rural population with access to clean water, according to the Master Plan.
The deputy minister said that in addition to the projects, the Government had set forth regulations to discipline or shut down workshops which continue to pollute.
He also said that meetings between the ministry and participating city and provincial authorities were held to map out implementation for the plan.
The ministry asked authorities to investigate sewage-dumping locations and pollution levels as well as waste disposal measures.
Five cities and provinces being targeted in the Nhue-Day River basin are Ha Noi, Hoa Binh, Ha Nam, Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh, which have a total area of 7,665sq.km and a population of 8.7 million.
The basin has large estuaries running across cities, townships, industrial and processing zones and handicraft villages. It is an important water source for agricultural and industrial production and central to daily life.
According to the latest report by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, untreated sewage from eight industrial zones, 266 private workshops, 358 handicraft villages, residential quarters and hospitals, was being discharged into the river at a volume of 720,000 cu.m of waste water a day.
The department also found the river’s water source pollution was 3-5 times the acceptable level, often worsening during the dry season.
Due to high levels of sewage, water pollution in some sections of the river rose to alarming levels and contamination by organic substances and coliform bacteria was a major source of food poisoning, ministry officials said. Agricultural cultivation in the river basin has also lowered water quality due to the over-use of fertiliser and pesticides.
According to deputy minister Nguyen Cong Thanh, the recent inspections at 230 State-owned and private workshops and seven handicraft villages located in the river valley area found major violations related to excess sewage-dumping.
A number of private workshops and handicraft villages were dumping 10 times the permitted level of sewage and 5 times the amount of harmful waste water allowed, inspectors reported.
The ministry has published a list on its website of 43 units in Ha Noi and Nam Dinh Province that are violating environmental regulations.
Infractions included dumping excess sewage, operating without a licence, and failing to report current environmental status according to the Ministry’s regulations.