Thousands of households in Quang Binh Province are complaining about having to use contaminated water.

Thousands of households in Quang Binh Province use contaminated water

The villagers in Phu Tho, An Thuy Commune, mostly use well water, however, the water recently turned into a deep yellow colour. A 62-year-old man thought that the alum in the water was the reason why he was diagnosed with stomach cancer seven years ago and hoped that the authorities would find a solution to quickly deal with the polluted water.

Duong Thi Lien, a local in Phu Tho Village, said, "We have to use the water-alum mixture for years. It's probably the reason why so many people suddenly fell ill and died lately."

An Thuy Commune has six villages with 2,750 households of which only 700 households have clean water. Phu Tho Village is the hardest hit by the problem. Some 25 to 30 people died annually because of cancer and other diseases. Most of them were from Phu Tho and two adjacent villages, Thanh Le and Thach Ban.

According to Le Van Thuong, head of Phu Tho, the numbers of ill and dead villagers increased sharply in the past decade. As of now, Kien Giang water supply station is only able to provide clean water to one village.

Vo Dinh Thanh, chairman of An Thuy Commune, said using water with high alum levels and salty water for a long time would badly affect the users. However, the main cause for the surge of cancer patients in their commune hadn't been determined yet.

The villagers have reported this problem several times but nothing has been done.

Dtinews