VietNamNet Bridge – Residents in Tan Lap Commune in the northern mountainous province of Son La’s Moc Chau District said while growing and processing arrowroot helped improve the lives of local residents, the rudimentary ways of processing have been killing local water sources.

Waste water discharging from an arrowroot processing household caused pollution in Tan Lap Commune of the province of Son La’s Moc Chau District. — Photo baosonla.vn

They said the water smelt foul and contained starch residue, probably from three arrowroot processing facilities upstream.

According to Dang Van Xu, a resident from Tan Lap Commune’s Co Phay Village, local residents earlier used to bathe in the Áng Stream and wash their clothes there but not anymore since the water has now turned black and emits a bad smell.

Ever since the facilities became operational, fish, shrimp and crabs in the stream have gradually disappeared.

"The smell becomes terrible when it rains," he said.

Lo Van Xinh, head of Tan Lap Commune’s Na Phay Village, said local residents repeatedly sent complaints about environmental pollution in the area and district authorities did dispatch working groups to look into the issue but the situation had not yet improved.

Leo Van Pang, deputy chairman of Tan Lap Commune, said now an area of 400ha was under arrowroot cultivation, producing nearly 12,000 tonnes of yield per year.

The commune has three arrowroot powder processing facilities which have been polluting the environment ever since they began production in 2008.

Although these facilities made a commitment that waste water would be treated before it flowed into the canals, they did not keep their word.

Arrowroot residue and untreated waste water stays in ditches dug by local households near the processing workshops. When it rains, the waste water from the ditches near the stream overflows into the water facility.

Pang said local authorities had proposed to the district’s leaders to put in place measures to tackle pollution in the area but even after so many years, the problem persists.

Delivering a warning and asking the facilities to pay an administrative fine of less than VND2 million (US$90) were all that the local authorities could do within their power, he said.

Pang said in 2014, the environmental police had imposed over VND20 million (US$897) fine on each facility but that did not prevent them from discharging untreated waste water into the environment.

Ha Van Nhay, a local official, said generally, between 5 and 6 cu.m of water was needed to process one tonne of arrowroot and the same amount of waste water is discharged together with 600-700 kg of residue.

He estimated that the three facilities could be releasing between 500-600 cu.m of waste with 60-70 tonnes of residue every day.

The contaminated water is not only affecting residents of Tan Lap Commune but also more than 250 other households who live along the stream.

According to Moc Chau District’s People’ Committee, there are ten arrowroot processing workshops in the district.

Ha Trung Chien, chairman of the district’s People’s Committee said authorities understand the problem and regularly conducted inspection visits to the workshops. However, he said, the state regulations to punish violators were not strict enough to stop water pollution.

Whenever inspection teams came, the facilities stopped their operations, resuming their activities soon after that, he added.

Chien said in the future, the local authorities would request the facilities to implement their commitment on environmental protection. Also, they would supervise the facilities better.

The district authorities would also take additional measures like imposing administrative fines and seizing production equipment if they continued their activities.

VNS