Cat Tien was once in danger when an enterprise wanted to build Dong Nai 6 and Dong Nai 6A hydropower plants in the park. Aftter protest from the public, the Prime Minister stopped the project in 2011.

But since then, the national park has been facing other dangers, including massive sand exploitation.

It appears that complaints by the park and warnings about possible consequences have not been heard.

Luong said the park’s board of management has also instructed security guards to prevent illegal exploiters, but this is a complicated issue.

In many cases, sand exploiters have licenses for exploitation and they make corrupt use of licenses to exploit sand in the land area belonging to the park. Because of socio-economic demand, local authorities continue licensing sand mining projects.

In many cases, sand exploiters have licenses for exploitation and they make corrupt use of licenses to exploit sand in the land area belonging to the park. Because of socio-economic demand, local authorities continue licensing sand mining projects.

Dao Trong Tu from the Vietnam River Network said uncontrolled sand exploitation is a problem that seriously affects Dong Nai river. Rampant exploitation will devastate streams and nature.

“There must be reasonable policies to avoid serious consequences,” Tu said. "Protecting rivers is very urgent. We cannot just talk, the authorities must come up with policies to protect the river. ”

According to the Saigon Water Supply Company (Sawaco), raw water from Dong Nai River, with the capacity of 560,000 cubic meters a day at the Thu Duc 1 Water Plant, is used to make clean water to provide to HCM City.

Three other water plants, including the 330,000 cubic meter BOO Thu Duc, the Thu Duc 3 Water Plant and the 100,000 cubic meter BOT BInh An, all have raw water pumping stations to produce clean water.

As such, about 1.3 million cubic meters of clean water for HCMC is from the Dong Nai River.

Asked about the quality of the raw water, Tran Kinh Thach from Sawaco said the turbidity in the Dong Nai River area has worsened.

In previous years, the turbidity level was about 150 NTU and lasted a few hours, but in 2019, the turbidity reached 200 NUT and lasted four days. If there is no measure to prevent soil erosion along the Dong Nai river basin, the water supply will be affected in the future.

Mai Lan 

Dong Nai river full of waste water, millions of people in danger

Dong Nai River, which runs through many provinces and cities, has received waste water discharge from production workshops, industrial zones (IZ) and fishing village's for years.