VietNamNet Bridge - Thousands of ‘hot spots’ with plant protection chemicals have been found but authorities have not been able to solve the problem. 

By June 2015, more than 1,560 spots with plant protection chemicals had been found in 46 central provinces and cities.

Over the last 20 years, tens of households in Ngoc Phong Hamlet of Hoa Kien Commune in Tuy Hoa City have been living with the plant protection chemicals storehouse which has been ‘forgotten’ by the Hoa Kien 3 Agriculture Cooperative.

Nguyen The Diep, a local man, said he has to close the door and windows all day long to prevent the bad odor from the pesticide nearby. 

Diep’s family is one of the 50 households in Ngoc Phong living within a 100 meter radius from the pesticide store and breathing the polluted air.

“The storehouse has degraded seriously. It gives a terrible odor on sunny days,” he said.

Diep and his neighbors don’t have clean water for daily use because they fear the chemicals from pesticide storehouses have absorbed into the earth and poisoned the underground water. 

Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces in the central region have been found has having a number of ‘hot spots’

“We can only use the water from wells for washing, and we have to go far to get clean water for cooking and drinking,” Diep explained.

In late 2008, the Phu Yen provincial Plant Protection Sub-department submitted to the local authorities the plan to destroy pesticide storehouses in the locality which was estimated to cost VND780 million. 

Under the plan, special treatment would be required for the pesticide storehouse owned by Hoa Kien 3 Cooperative because the chemicals there have absorbed into the earth. The sand with chemicals, estimated to weigh 22.5 tons, would need to be thrown away.

However, the plan still cannot be implemented. In fact, the problem is seen not only in Phu Yen.

A report of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE) showed that Of these, 200 spots have been found high risk which may have caused serious environmental damage and affected the community’s health.

Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces in the central region have been found has having a number of ‘hot spots’ accounting for 50 percent of ‘seriously polluted’ spots if referring to the list of 100 seriously polluted spots released within the framework of the 2012-2015 national program on environmental improvement.

Experts pointed out that plant protection chemicals top the list of toxic substances. Meanwhile, plant protection chemical storehouses, which were mostly built tens of years ago, have degraded seriously. 

According to MONRE, only 60 hot spots have been treated under the national program, with the cost of VND250 billion.

Thien Nhien