VietNamNet Bridge – Scientists have warned that underground water in rural areas near industrial zones is becoming seriously polluted and depleted.

According to the General Department of Environment (GDE), underground water resources provide 35-40 percent of total running water with exploitation output of 20 million cubic meters per day.

Underground water is the only source of daily-use water for residents in rural areas, where the national clean water programs still cannot reach.

The recent GDE monitoring reports showed that organic pollution (NH4+, NO3), heavy metal and microorganisms have been found in underground water samples in many localities.

The situation is especially serious in the northern delta, where the ammonium concentration is 23.3 mg per liter, much higher than the permitted level.

In Hai Ly Commune of Hai Hau District in Nam Dinh province, the ammonium concentration was found to be 441 times higher than the permitted level.

The polluted water was also found in other districts of Nam Dinh province, but not on a large scale, mostly in craft villages.

A report showed that 87 percent of Nam Dinh’s people could access clean water in 2013.

However, the water quality is getting worse. About 60 percent of the water samples in the northern region were found as having manganese content exceeding the standard level, while about 15 percent of samples were found containing arsenic, a substance that is highly toxic to humans.

The ammonium concentrations in underground water in the central region was also found to be higher than the permitted level.

The Binh Thuan Environment Monitoring Center reported that the underground water quality in agricultural production, animal husbandry and salt-marsh areas had COD, Cl-, NO3-, SO2- and coliform higher than the permitted level.

The highest COD concentration was 12.6 times higher than the permitted level in the Tan Thuan salt-marsh area.

In Hanoi, nearly all the water samples taken from water wells in the districts of Hoang Mai, Gia Lam and Hai Ba Trung in 2014 were found containing ammonium and were unsafe for use.

Le Ke Son, GDE’s deputy director general, noted that it has become more and more difficult to control underground water as more and more industrial factories have been built.

Therefore, Son said what local authorities can do immediately to protect underground water sources is to establish “water protection corridors”.

Provincial authorities are taking the responsibility of setting up boundaries for protection zones, giving information about running-water quality and giving warnings about changes in water quality.

Thanh Mai