VietNamNet Bridge - Thousands of households in An Khe town of Gia Lai province live on the water from Ba River but much of it is used by the An Khe hydropower plant.

 

The analysis of the water sample taken from Ba River showed that the quality of the water was not good.

The Ba section river which runs across Gia Lai is turning into a ‘dead river’ since the An Khe – Ka Nak hydropower plant began operation. It is becoming depleted as the plant stores water on the upper course to generate electricity. It is also polluted by the waste water discharged from tens of workshops and factories.

An Khe is designed to use water from Ba River to generate electricity, but discharge water to the Kon River. As a result, Ba River has no more clean water for thousands of local households. 

Meanwhile, it has to receive dirty water from factories and household-run production workshops. It also receives waste water from the cow farm owned by Gia Lai Animal Husbandry JSC.

An Khe is designed to use water from Ba River to generate electricity, but discharge water to the Kon River.

Though the river is seriously polluted, it still provides water to 3,000 households in An Khe Town. Only when the An Khe Water Plant discovered that the water treatment tanks at the plant turned yellow with the 10 cm thick layer of dregs did it report to the state management agency. 

It feared that the water, infected with E.Coli, would cause a diarrhea epidemic.

The analysis of the water sample taken from Ba River showed that the quality of the water was not good. The E.Coli bacteria concentration was 2.5-2.8 times higher than the permitted level.

Scientists, while concluding that the river cannot meet standards to be provided to locals as running water, have warned that the epidemic may break out on a large scale if the water continues to be used.

An Khe Water Plant applied disinfection measures to improve the quality of water provided to people. However, with the backward technology, the measures could not help.

Do Tan Hiep, head of the An Khe Plant’s board of management, admitted that though the water looks clean, it cannot meet the required standards.

“The latest test showed that the water quality is substandard,” he said.

According to Hiep, the plant provides 1,500 cubic meters of water a day. However, the plant’s management board has recommended local people use the water only for washing or watering, not for drinking and cooking.

“If An Khe hydropower plant does not give water back to the lower course of Ba River, and if enterprises don’t control their waste water, the pollution will continue,” Hiep said.


NLD