VietNamNet Bridge - “The children in our village cannot have fun or breathe fresh air,” said Nguyen Van Toan, head of Duong O hamlet in Bac Ninh province. 

Part 2: Craft villages poisoning environment

Khac Niem, the famous rice vermicelli village in Bac Ninh province, is located not far from Phong Khe paper village. 

In the past, rice vermicelli was carried out everywhere in the north by bicycle. But nowadays, as the production scale has expanded, rice vermicelli is carried away by pick-ups. Tens of pick-ups, following each other, carry tons of rice vermicelli to neighboring provinces and Hanoi every day.

A lot of households in Khac Niem village have prospered thanks to rice vermicelli. However, while poverty has gone, another big worry has come –  pollution.

It is estimated that more than 200 vermicelli making households in Khac Niem discharge 5,000 cubic meters of waste water every day. 

The waste water floods the canals in the village and poisons the air.

Six years ago, a waste water treatment system was set up to help settle the problem. 

However, as deputy chair of Khac Niem village Nguyen Thanh Don, said the system with the modest capacity of 450 cubic meters per day cannot handle the thousands of cubic meters of waste water discharged.

Khac Niem is just one of 63 craft villages that exist in Bac Ninh and pollute the living environment. 

Dao Thi Hoa, 61, of Phong Khe paper village does not make paper, but she has to close the doors all the day to prevent bad odor, smoke and dust from paper production workshops from entering her house, where an old father and ill son stay.

“I still have to live here. I don’t have money to leave to settle down in another place,” she said.

Bac Ninh provincial authorities, which understand the problems in the locality, have vowed to eliminate pollution in craft villages by 2020.

In the immediate time, the local authorities will focus on getting rid of the pollution in three villages – Van Mon aluminum recycling, Dai Bai copper casting and Khac Niem vermicelli villages. 

Phong Khe villagers hope that once the first phase of the waste water treatment project is put into operation, the local environment will improve.

However, there is still no official research work on the impact of the environment on people’s health. 

Nguyen Van Son from MOH noted that though several ministries and branches bear the task of managing the environment, Vietnam still cannot build databases on the environment, especially epidemiological data.

Thien Nhien