VietNamNet Bridge - Billions of dong has been spent to save polluted canals in HCM City, but they are in danger of getting polluted again. 

The revival of the Nhieu Loc – Thi Nghe Canal improved the environment, and locals have been breeding fish in the canal. But the fish unexpectedly died after the first rains of the season. 

This is not the first time many fish have died in the canal. In 2014 and 2015, fish also died after early rains. 

However, according to the HCM City Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the amount of dead fish this time was by far higher than in previous years. At least 14 tons of dead fish have been collected.

Nguyen Phuoc Trung, director of the department, said the fish had died because of organic pollutants and toxic gas. 

Billions of dong has been spent to save polluted canals in HCM City, but they are in danger of getting polluted again.

The testing of water samples taken from the canal showed that the pH, temperature and other indexes were higher than permitted levels.

This was blamed on sewers in Tan Binh district which bring waste water directly to the canal. The heavy rains caused a big volume of waste water to flow to the area.

To deal with the problem, according to Trung, it is necessary to spray Zeolite bioproduct into the area of dead fish. This would deposit sediments, and decompose pollutants, thus helping improve water quality and save the remaining fish.

However, experts said that the solution can only help improve the situation temporarily.

The Nhieu Loc – Thi Nghe began undergoing a rehabilitation process in 1993. To date, hundreds of millions of dollars have been disbursed for the rehabilitation process. 

However, the canal, which goes through six central districts, is still the place which contains domestic waste water from millions of people in neighboring areas.

Experts pointed out that the newly revived canal would be damaged again and again unless the waste water treatment system in the area begins to work properly and people stop dropping litter in the canal.

It took 10 years and $300 million to renovate a 9-kilometer section of the canal. 

According to the city’s urban area service company, 20 workers of the company have to work hard every day to collect 4-5 tons of litter thrown in the canal. However, they cannot collect all the garbage.

The same situation is occurring with many other canals in the city, including the Tan Hoa – Lo Gom, which was rehabilitated in a project capitalized at VND5 trillion. 

Ha Noi Moi