VietNamNet Bridge – The waste water from the industrial zones in Long An province has been polluting the water sources that serve agriculture production in Hoc Mon, Binh Chanh and Cu Chi districts in HCM City.

The colorful canal

Thay Cai – An Ha in the past was a very clean canal with limpid water. However, it is now called the “colorful canal” after it got seriously polluted. The passage of the canal that goes through the Cu Chi district has the brown – black color with bad odor and oily film. The cajuputs, which were so green in the past, have turned ash grey.

If someone goes further along the canal, he would see a special phenomenon: the water of the canal changes its color regularly. In some areas, the passage is dark green, while in others sections of the canal, the water inky black, and then turns dark red or as white as milk with grass and water hyacinth on the surface.

According to Nguyen Trung Tam, Deputy Director of the Hoc Mon – Binh Chanh Irrigation Work Exploitation Enterprise, it is the thick grass and water hyacinth which have hindered the water drainage, thus blocking the waste water flow.

Pham Van Tuan, a farmer in Hoc Mon district in HCM City said the water changes its color regularly in the dry season. Sometimes the water turns black killing a lot of fishes. The underground water here has also got polluted. Therefore, local residents have to buy bottled water for making food, while the water from the wells here has just been for watering.

A monitoring report by the HCM City Irrigation Works Exploitation Enterprise in 2012 showed the serious degradation of the quality of surface water of the canal. COD, BOD5 and Fe concentrations were found as exceed the allowed levels by tens of times, while the DO concentration was lower than the minimum allowed level.

The canal in HCM City has been listed as the most seriously polluted canal and put under the special monitoring by the city’s authorities.

Post-treated water still dirty

Nguyen Trung Tam said the canal receives the waste water from the residential quarters and the factories in Nhi Xuan industrial zone in HCM City, and some other industrial zones in Long An province.

In recent years, the industrial zones in Long An province namely Xuyen A, Hanh Phuc and Hoang Gia, have become the main culprits that cause the environment pollution.

Reporters could see with their eyes the red water flowing out from the sewer of the Xuyen A industrial zone’s waste water treatment system. The water, though going through the treatment system, still looked red and produced the odor of dying chemicals.

The polluted water has been threatening the Hoc Mon – Bac Binh Chanh irrigation system which now serves the watering for 9000 hectares of farm produce.

The HCM City Irrigation Company has estimated that in suburb districts as such Binh Chanh and Cu Chi, hundreds of hectares of agriculture land have turned uncultivated because of the polluted watering sources. Thousands of hectares of the industrial trees developed by the company have also been seriously damaged.

The company has shouted for help to relevant agencies, asking to take actions to settle the pollution of the canal water. For the time being, the company needs to use the water from the Dong canal and dilute it to ease the pollution.

Thien Nhien