Untreated effluent from San Miguel Pure Foods Viet Nam Company has spilled into the 30km Thi Tinh River, which flows into the Sai Gon River, causing serious environment damage and contamination to the water supply to hundreds of thousands of households in Binh Duong Province and HCM City. The pollution was discovered on Sunday.
The spill also resulted in untreated waste water from the company, which makes pig feed, flowing into local houses and on to rubber plantations, the head of Ben Cat District’s Natural Resources and Environment Department said. The accident was blamed on a rupture to a waste water reservoir.
Effluent reached the Thu Dau Mot Water Supply and Drainage Company and HCM City’s Tan My Water Supply Factory, which supplies water to hundreds of thousands of households, said Nguyen Ngoc Diem, from the Binh Duong Water Supply and Drainage Company.
A Binh Duong inspection team has ordered the company to build a temporary dyke to prevent more effluent flowing into the Thi Tinh River and to properly repair the reservoir within 15 days.
A local official said other companies took advantage of the situation to discharge untreated waste water into the Thi Tinh River.
According to an initial investigation by the district’s Natural Resources and Environment Department and Environment Police Department, 30m of wall surrounding the 7ha waste water reservoir collapsed.
Experts are working to find the cause of the break based on the company’s technical maps, the official said.
Nguyen Huu Chi, deputy chairman of Ben Cat District People’s Committee, said a large number of fish had died because of the pollution.
San Miguel Pure Foods has six sheds holding 68,000 pigs, which discharge about 3,000cu.m of waste water daily.
The company is one of the top 25 worst polluters in the province and last year was forced to make a commitment to improve its environmental record.