VietNamNet Bridge – Trillions of dong have been injected into projects to solve canal pollution in HCM City but the results have been temporary.

The 19/5 canal which runs through the Tan Binh Industrial Zone is “famous” in HCM City for serious pollution. The well-designed solid embankment cannot help protect it from pollution, since it has to receive waste water from different sources.

Visitors to the area can many sewers along the canal side, through which waste water from local factories goes directly into the canal. The water of the canal changes every hour. It sometimes has a red color, and at times turns black.

Trinh Van Thi, a local resident, said many production workshops in the area have been producing large volumes of hazardous waste water over dozens of years, but the illegal waste water discharge has never been stopped by authorised agencies.

The same situation can be seen at the canal that runs through the Pham Van Bach Street in Tan Binh District, the one through Bach Dang Street and another that runs through Dien Bien Phu Street in Binh Thanh District. The canals receive waste water from production shops in the localities, as well as domestic waste water from the households living on either side of the canal.

Trillions of dong were spent to clean up the Nhieu Loc – Thi Nghe and Tau Hu – Ben Nghe canals, which were formerly in a very bad state. However, the canals are at a risk of getting polluted again. The section of Tau Hu – Ben Nghe canal which goes through Districts 6 and 8 has turned black and smelly.

Since no measure has been taken to protect the canals now, the canals are becoming polluted again.

As public dustbins have not been set up as planned, the visitors to the local parks throw waste and discarded products directly into the canals. Environmentalists warned that the canals may turn into large dustbins themselves, and could be filled up with garbage one day.

The workers of the city’s sanitation company said they sometimes have to fish out big items from the canals, such as tables, chairs and wardrobes. It seems that people have nowhere to throw the items except the canals.

When asked about the measures to protect the environment in the canal areas, an official of the HCM City Department of Natural Resources and the Environment said the waste disposal management had been decentralized to district authorities. The leaders of districts have to take responsibility for environmental pollution in their localities.

However, the official admitted that it is unreasonable to control waste disposal based on the administrative border. In border areas between districts, loca people have established informal dumping grounds.

Thien Nhien