VietNamNet Bridge - The 2,900 canals and arroyos in HCM City serve transport and help regulate the waste water. However, it is difficult to find clear water in the canals now as most have been encroached on in different ways.


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There are 2,900 canals and arroyos in HCM City


District 8 has the highest number of canals. Located adjacent to central districts 1 and 5, the canals there are filled with garbage, which causes serious pollution.

The canals and arroyos of Doi, Sang, Ben, U Cay and Hiep An in the central area of district 8 serve transportation and water drainage. However, the canals have been deposited, depleted or heavily polluted by accumulative dirt.

When the tide goes out, the water turns black and gives a bad odor. When the tide comes in, the water rises and the canals are filled with floating trash. 

Locals have encroached on the canals to build houses and drop litter into the canals.

The canal running across Pham Van Bach road and the canal running across Bach Dang Road are seriously polluted. They not only receive waste water from production workshops, but also waste from people living along the canals.

The 2,900 canals and arroyos in HCM City serve transport and help regulate the waste water. However, it is difficult to find clear water in the canals now as most have been encroached on in different ways.

On the sides of the canals, restaurants, car-cleaning workshops and tea shops have mushroomed and the waste from the facilities is discharged into the canals.

Reporters found that 54 canals and arroyos in HCM City are occupied by locals. 

For many years, Cau Cut arroyo has been serving as the major water drainage arroyo for residential quarters on Le Duc Tho, Le Van Tho and Cay Tram roads. 

However, the arroyo bed has narrowed because of houses built along the edges.

Besides the Sai Gon river system, HCM City also has other important canal systems including Doi-Tau Hu, Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe, Tan Hoa – Lo Gom, Ben Nghe and Vam Thuat, but they are ‘choked to death’. 

The Nuoc Den (Black water) canal in Binh Tan district, is flooded with rubbish. The same situation is occurring in Gia Dinh and Tam Luong canals in districts 12.

Even the canals near the Sai Gon River, such as Te and Ben Nghe, are getting polluted. They look clean when the tide comes in, but the water turns black and smelly when the tides goes out.

HCM City has spent big money to relocate houses along the canals, but the number of canals being encroached on by locals is still rising.


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