VietNamNet Bridge - When building factories, investors often neglect applying environment protection solutions and  waste water treatment systems. As a result, rivers become polluted. 

Bui Quang Te, an expert of the Aquaculture Research Institute, said that at a presentation of a new project, an investor was asked about waste treatment by someone in the audience. 

The leader of the local authorities was leaving the room, and turned his head, sayin: “Don’t forget environment treatment solutions”. And the presentation concluded

No one, including local authorities, wanted to clarify the solutions for environmental treatment and if the solutions would be reasonable.

Twenty years ago, people in Me Linh district in Hanoi farmed fish on a small section of the Red River, the ‘mother river’ in the north. The initial results were satisfactory: with one dong of investment, farmers could earn 5-7 dong of profit a year.

When building factories, investors often neglect applying environment protection solutions and  waste water treatment systems. As a result, rivers become polluted.

The local authorities released a resolution on encouraging locals to farm fish. When the number of fish cages on the small river section reached 470, farmers discovered that fish died en masse. 

Believing that the fish died of disease, farmers asked Te to help them treat the disease. 

“I told them that it was the policy that needed a remedy,” Te said.

“The small river section is just enough for 50 fish cages, but you have increased to 500 cages. That is the reason why the river section has become polluted and killed the fish,” he explained.

The uncontrolled aquaculture on Kinh Thay River also killed fish en masse in 2014. When Te said that fish died because of lack of oxygen, no one believed him.

However, tests later proved Te was true. The dissolved oxygen was too low, just 1mg per liter, while it should be 5-8 mg per liter. 

The Tien and Hau Rivers in the south are also facing the same problem. Along the rivers, hundreds of factories, industrial zones and workshops have arisen.

On Hau River, from Thot Not in Can Tho province to Chau Doc in An Giang province, there are numerous factories and workshop, big and small, mostly seafood processing and animal feed factories.

On Tien River, there is a large steel mill which makes steel from steel scrap. Locals have to live together with the waste, smoke, dust and noise from the mill.

Nong Nghiep