VietNamNet Bridge - Authorities have discovered toxic chemical residue, but solutions to treat them have not been found.

Tran Ngoc Dinh, an environmental expert, said it was easy to treat chemicals in storehouses, but it is difficult and costly to treat and rehabilitate the polluted land.

Dinh, who spent years to treat pollution in the central land strip, said it takes $2 only to treat one kilo of chemical residues, but it $20 to treat one kilo of residue leaked into the surface land area and $200 to treat residue absorbed into deeper layers of earth. 

Meanwhile, it would take up to $2,000 to treat chemicals soaked into the underground water. In principle, it would take much more money to treat the chemicals which have been spread in the environment.

A recent survey found that 217 tons and 37,000 liters of plant protection chemicals have been kept in storehouses. The storehouses, mostly built in the 1980s have degraded seriously. About 900 tons of chemicals have been treated.

Toxic chemicals have been discovered, but local authorities don’t know which technological solutions to choose in the context of limited budgets.

With funding from different sources, the Environment General Directorate, in cooperation with local authorities, has treated hundreds of tons of chemicals over the  many years. The chemicals have been either ruined or isolated in solidly built concrete bunkers.

It took a lot of time and effort to treat the pesticide polluted area in Hoang Tru hamlet of Kim Lien commune in Nghe An province, where there was a plant protection chemical factory in 1970s.

In 2008, the Waste Management and Environment Upgrading Department decided to isolate the chemicals by digging ditches with the bottom covered with brown coal which led drainage water to an activated carbon tank. Eucalyptus trees have been planted on the entire area to upgrade the soil.

Similar measures were applied to the ‘hot spot’ in Mau II hamlet in Kim Lien commune. The local authorities decided to build 2 meter-deep embankment surrounding the contaminated land area and use an activated carbon tank to collect rainwater. 

Vector grass has been grown on the land area where the pesticide storehouse was located. The grass has the ability to absorb and transform toxic chemicals in the soil, while it does not require people’s care.

However, experts say what has been done remains modest, which means that local people still have to face high risks every day.

To date, there has been no official report about consequences caused by plant protection chemical residue to human’s health. Therefore, local people still ‘live together’ with the hidden danger.

Thien Nhien