Pumping the Red river’s water to clean water in Hanoi’s stinky To Lich river is a solution that Hanoi authorities should ponder, Kinh te & Do thi newspaper quoted some experts as saying.

This solution will help increase the flow of the To Lich river, contribute to diluting the pollution level in the river, which is receiving about 150,000m3 of untreated waste water every day.

A representative from Hanoi Sewerage and Drainage Limited Company said that the company had already made this proposal in the project of "pumping water to the West Lake and improving water quality in the To Lich river" which has just been submitted to the Hanoi government.

Pumping the Red river’s water into West Lake will create circulation. When West Lake is clean, water from the lake will be discharged through two gates to the To Lich river to clean its polluted water, the representative said.

According to Dr. Tran Duc Ha, director of the Research Institute for Water Supply and Environment under the Vietnam Water Supply and Sewerage Association, stopping discharging waste water into the To Lich river is fundamental in treating pollution here.

Ha emphasized that it is worth pondering the dissolution of the To Lich water with the Red river’s water because the To Lich river is facing the risk of becoming a dead river when it received little amount of water in the dry season.

To Lich flowing in the middle of Hanoi used to be an icon of the city for its beauty in the old times, but it has become black and stinky due to untreated wastewater discharged into it day and night.

On May 20, the Institute of Environmental Technology under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology studied water quality on the To Lich river after three days of installing Japan’s Nano - Bioreactor technology in a section of the river. The study results showed that the water quality of that section has been significantly improved, local media reported. Hanoitimes

Anh Kiet