A large volume of black sewage with a foul smell from Tam Sinh Nghia and Vietstar waste disposal grounds in Cu Chi District flows into the Thay Cai canal system, flooding people’s farmland and seriously polluting water sources, especially in the areas where Thay Cai canal connects the Sai Gon River.

Nguyen Van Dam, director of the HCM City Water Resources Service Company, spoke about the problem at the meeting with the HCM City’s appropriate agencies on July 9.

According to Dam, the culprit behind the pollution is the leachate from the waste and the open-case organic mud grounds, which were not covered thoroughly. They leaked with rainwater on July 6.

In reports sent to agencies, Dam said in mid-June 2015, the Cu Chi District People’s Committee had a working session with the investors of Tam Sinh Nghia and Vietstar, requesting investors to stop the leachate. However, no effective solution has been found.

As a result, the heavy rain on July 6 caused the strong leakage of waste water from the waste disposal areas to the environment, affecting the locals’ cajuput forest and polluting the water in canals nearby.

Dam on July 13 told the press that about 30,000 hectares of crops in the districts of Binh Chanh and Cu Chi use the irrigation water from Thay Cai Canal, while the waste water discharged to the canal is not fully treated.

Dam also said that enterprises treat waste water perfunctorily, and discharge untreated water if the agencies lose control.

The problem is that the Thay Cai Canal runs into the Sai Gon River, which provides water to millions of people of HCM City.

“If the problem cannot be settled, the ecosystem of a large area will be damaged, and the Sai Gon River will be affected,” he warned.

The Sai Gon Water Supply  (Sawaco) now provides raw water from the Sai Gon River to its plants, which then process tap water to provide to city’s residents. 

Some other water plants including Thu Duc, Thu Duc BOO, Binh An, Tan Hiep 1, which provide millions of cubic meters to people a day, also use raw water from Dong Nai and Sai Gon rivers.

The plants in the waste disposal complexes in Cu Chi districts are degraded because of the leachate from the complexes.

Sawaco has warned that the water processing cost is increasing because of the higher volume of chemicals needed to treat the increasingly polluted raw water.

TBKTSG