An alcohol production company shut down four years ago floods neighbouring homes with black smelly water every time it rains.
The company, Ha Tay Alcohol Wine and Liquor JSC in Tam Hiep Commune, in Phuc Tho District, was founded in 1960 as a State-owned firm. It covers thousands of sq. metres.
It started losing money and was shut down in 2007, said chairman of the Tam Hiep People's Committee, Nguyen Van Kha.
After four years of neglect, most of the company's equipment and machines have gone rusty. Whenever it rains, black water from the site flows into a small reservoir on the site and then overflows onto nearby residential quarter.
Do Dinh Van, a resident in the commune's My Giang Village, said the water had an offensive chemical smell.
Nguyen Van Loc, head of Thuong Hiep Village, said the company did not have a sewerage system and that its waste water flowed into the commune's system and polluted many villages including his own, Hoa Thon and Dien Cat.
"We reported the issue to local authorities, but they have not taken any proper measures," he said.
Although no tests have been done, residents are worried because the number of cancer patients in the commune has soared.
Head of the Tam Hiep Medical Station Dao Trong Hai said that last year 14 people in the commune died of cancer, double the number in 2007. Most of the patients were aged from 55 to 70. They suffered cancer of the liver, lung and stomach.
"I have worked at the medical station for more than 20 years, but have never seen so many cancer patients," he said.
Chairman Kha said the People's Committee did not have the power to punish the company. "We are only responsible for checking and supervision," he said.
Inspections carried out this year showed that waste water flowing over from a storage reservoir when it rained was four times the level allowed.
The committee has reported the situation to the district's police and Department of Natural Resources and Environment. They fined the company several times, said Kha.
Meanwhile, a director of the company, Nguyen Thi Nhan, said that the company had temporarily stopped work and would restructure to become a building materials company.
Nhan claimed that waste water from the company could not flow away because construction sites in the district had broken the company's water pipes.