VietNamNet Bridge - The HCM City authorities have given the nod to the Saigon Water Supply Company (Sawaco) plan to build underground water reservoirs in some parks in the city which would help ensure water supply after earthquakes and other natural calamities.

Sawaco would build six underground water reservoirs with pumping stations at Thao Cam Vien which would be in charge of providing water to the central area of the city. Reservoirs would also be set up at Gia Dinh and Go Vap Culture Parks to provide water to Go Vap, Phu Nhuan and Binh Thanh districts. 

Meanwhile, the reservoirs on Nguyen Van Linh street would provide water to Nha Be and Can Gio districts. The other areas, including Binh Chanh district, the western and southwest parts of the city would receive water from the Tan Binh Reservoir, to be located within the Tan Phu Underground Water Plant, and the reservoir in Phu Lam Park.

An official of Sawaco said that the water reservoirs under parks would be built as per the recommendation by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). 

These would help improve the water supply capability and increase the stored water volume to ensure the stable raw water supply for water plants in case the water sources were affected by salty water or pollution. 

Sawaco would build six underground water reservoirs with pumping stations at Thao Cam Vien which would be in charge of providing water to the central area of HCM City.

HCM City would also maintain 47 underground water wells to ensure water supply in emergency cases.

Besides the underground water reservoirs, the city’s authorities have also agreed on Sawaco’s plan to build reservoirs to store raw water.

Prior to that, Sawaco proposed to build a raw water reservoir with capacity of 1.35 million cubic meters, covering an area of 23 hectares in Cu Chi district in 2016-2017.

If the reservoir is built, the raw water supply for the Tan Hiep Water Plant would be guaranteed even if the water of the Sai Gon River cannot be exploited due to temporary salinity or pollution.

Experts said this is a reasonable solution. Large-scale water reservoirs can be found in many countries such as Japan and Thailand. They said storing raw water must be considered to ensure the normal activities of the city with 8 million people.

The six operational water plants in the city can provide 2.1 million cubic meters of water daily. Of the plants, four now exploit raw water from the Dong Nai River and two others use raw water from the Sai Gon River.

Experts have repeatedly warned that the water of Sai Gon and Dong Nai Rivers is getting increasingly polluted. 


TBKTSG