VietNamNet Bridge – A working group of environmental experts has discovered underground diesel leaks in wells located in Huong Trach Commune’s Tan Phuc Village in the central province of Ha Tinh.

Ha Tinh Province’s experts group digs four deep holes outside the wells in Tan Phuc Village which showed the presence of polluted diesel, considered a hazardous waste. — Photo zing.vn

Phan Quoc Lap, head of Huong Khe District’s Natural Resources and Environment Department in Ha Tinh Province, told zing.vn online newspaper.

The working group, set up on the order of Ha Tinh Province People’s Committee Deputy Chairman Dang Ngoc Son, was responsible for guiding, inspecting and supervising the treatment of oil-contaminated wells.

Lap said the group had dug four deep holes outside the wells which showed the presence of polluted diesel, considered a hazardous waste. 

“On April 19, the functional forces used a drilling machine to dig four 3-5m deep holes. We noticed a light-yellow liquid at the bottom of the holes, which emitted a strong smell of oil,” he said. “We took the liquid for further tests and found that it was combustible,” he added.

On April 20, upon further investigation, the working group discovered an underground oil tank of Viet-Laos Vilaco Company (located in Huong Trach Commune). When it was dug up, the group found cracks in the tank.

“We cannot confirm the cause of this phenomenon. However, if a company causes oil leakage, the relevant authorities will strictly handle the matter and claim damages to the affected people,” Lap said.

On April 8, Nguyen Xuan Hai, a resident of Tan Phuc Village, noticed the smell of oil in his well. A day later, six other families in the village found their wells contaminated with oil. Two of them were severely polluted.

Hai said he and other families suspected the oil leakage to be caused by a plaster area of the Viet-Laos Vilaco Company. They had requested the local authorities to dig down to find the cause.

According to residents, the plaster area was first an oil-supply area, with each oil tank containing some 25,000 litres of oil.

In July 2017, an oil tank was damaged, resulting in an oil spill which destroyed rice and vegetables in the surrounding fields, said a villager.

The company, however, denied the oil leak and said the underground tank had been unoperational since October 2017. But according to Do Khoa Van, director of the Ha Tinh Province’s Department of Science and Technology, inspectors had discovered cracks in some of the oil containers.

As the next step, Huong Khe District authorities will sign a contract with a local company that would use specialised equipment to absorb the diesel-polluted water in the contaminated wells. The water would be transported to a waste treatment plant, Lap said. 

Source: VNS