VietNamNet Bridge – Twenty one lakes in Hanoi and 150 hectares of water surface have disappeared over the last 20 years, since 1990.

Ponds and lakes in danger

Like the rivers, a lot of ponds and lakes in Hanoi have been poisoned with waste and got narrowed because of the encroachment of local residents.

According to the Hanoi Construction Department, there are only 111 lakes with the total areas of 1165 hectares existing. Of these, the West Lake is the largest, covering an area of over 500 hectares, or nearly 50 percent of the total area of ponds and lakes.

Hanoians are both the victims and the culprits of the polluted and disappeared lakes. Just over the last 20 years, 21 lakes in Hanoi and 150 hectares of water surface have disappeared since 1990.

The pollution has become alarming in Hanoi with 90 percent of lakes here suffering from the pollution, accordance to CECR, an environment research center.

Untreated waste water has been discharged directly through the households’ sewers, the source of phosphorus and nitrate which increases the volume of phytoplankton and algae. The algae have a very short lifespan, which, after dying, would gather at the bottom of the lake, thus narrowing the area the lakes.

Meanwhile, the decomposition of algae requires large amounts of oxygen in the water, thus reducing the amount of oxygen dissolved in the lake, affecting aquatic animals and producing bad odor, influencing the lives of local residents.

Only six out of the 120 lakes, ponds in the six central districts of Hanoi have been found as meeting the quality standards. Meanwhile, 80 percent of the lakes are facing the risk of having their lakesides taken by enterprises or individuals for car parks or waste dumps.

The West Lake, one of the biggest lakes in Hanoi, has seen the area decreasing by 50 hectares since 1987 because of the same reason. The Truc Bach Lake has lost ¼ of its total area. Some other lakes can only exist on paper.

The disappearance of the lakes explains why Hanoians always suffer from the flood. When it rains heavily, Hanoi would turn into a huge lake, because the real lakes have become too small to contain the water.

Joint efforts called to protect environment

It is estimated some 60 polluted lakes and ponds in Hanoi, or 2/3 of total, have not been improved. A lot of them have not been dredged and cleaned for the last many years, while local residents have been growing rau muong (a kind of vegetable) on them. Therefore, they have turned into the fields for cultivation.

In 2009, the Hanoi People’s Committee allocated a budget on dealing with the seven lakes in Hanoi, namely Quynh, Xa Dan, Ngoc Khanh, Hai Ba Trung, Ngoc Ha, Dai and Kim Lien.

In 2010, the Hanoi Department for Natural Resources and the Environment, planned to deal with the other 26 big lakes in the inner city to clean the environment.

The city also plans to build the waste treatment systems for 12 hospitals and healthcare centers.

A center doing research on the environment and community, called CECR, has been set up with an aim to call for the joint efforts among organizations and individuals to protect the lakes in Hanoi.

CECR has established a website on the lakes in Hanoi at http://www.cecr.vn, which aims to support the cooperation and information exchange among environmental experts, managers, enterprises and the community.

Phap Luat