VietNamNet Bridge – As local authorities have often been too late or too powerless to deal with environmental pollution, local people have found the need to take matters into their own hands.

On Sunday morning, hundreds of residents of Quang Nam Province gathered at the Bac Chu Lai Industrial Zone with shovels and hoes in hand.

Tens of tons of red soil were carried to the site. The volunteers, residents of Tam Hiep Commune in the district of Nui Thanh, said the soil would be used to plug an outlet through which wastewater was being discharged into the local environment.

One man said the locals had come to the conclusion that they needed to take action to stop the discharge of pollutants into the Cau canal, the main source of water to their area. “Cau canal provides water to irrigate the local rice fields. But it has become seriously polluted. It has turned black, smelly and unusable,” said Tran Cong Anh, 68, of Tho Khuong Village.

When asked why people did not lodge a complaint with the local authorities and the Chu Lai Industrial Zone Development Company, Anh said the company had been slow in dealing with the problem. Therefore, people thought they would be better off settling the problem themselves.

The tons of red soil did help “conceal” the outlet. The locals finished their work at noon.

Nguyen Van Tien, head of the Tho Khuong Hamlet, said local residents have been living with air and water pollution for the last many years already, and “they cannot stand this any longer”.

According to Le Chi, Chair of Tam Hiep Commune People’s Committee, locals complained many times about the pollution of the Cau canal. They also threatened to plug the outlet if the Chu Lai Industrial Zone Development Company did not come forward and settle the problem. However, the company never offered any replies.

When asked what the company would do in the coming days, Nguyen Van Chung, the director, said that enterprises in the industrial zone have been informed about the situation, which will have to stop operation in a few more days. Chung also said that he has sent formal requests to appropriate agencies to ask for intervention.

Observers have noted that more and more people are “going it alone” in dealing with environmental pollution and those who they see as the culprits, no longer relying on authorities’ intervention. It is partially because they have lost confidence in the local authorities and state agencies.

In most cases, the concerned agencies ignore people’s complaints. In others, they are powerless, or claim to be, in forcing polluters to rectify their violations and provide compensation for damages.

Hundreds of people in the central province of Thanh Hoa reportedly gathered for three days last week in front of a pig farm in the locality to demand that the owner mitigate the pollution emanating from the farm.

A woman said the local community has been suffering from the pollution since 2008, and that they received no support from local authorities. Therefore, they decided to “work face to face” with the farmer, rather than wait for the law to be enforced.

NLD