VietNamNet Bridge – Residents living along banks of canals in HCM City discharge waste directly into the canals from 15,000 toilets, increasing the likelihood of spreading disease, a report from the HCM City Health Department said.

Of the total number, 947 live in Binh Thanh District. The remaining are scattered in several wards in districts 4, 6, Tan Binh and Tan Phu.

Many of the houses of these families, most of whom are poor, protrude over the canals, where waste can be easily dumped.

The problem persists even though the Division of Natural Resources and Environment in city districts have set up public toilets and encouraged families to use or build hygienic toilets.

But most of the families have refused.

"It is a big inconvenience to use public toilets. We have no land to build proper toilets," said Le Thi Lan Anh, a resident living on Hang Bang Canal bank in District 6.

The residents also dump other kinds of waste into the canals every day, including plastic bags, bottles and Styrofoam boxes that hinder water flow, keeping contaminated water stuck at sites.

The affected canals include Tau Hu, Kenh Doi, Rach Du, Rach Kenh Nho canals in District 8, and Tran Xuan Soan and Hang Bang canals in District 6.

Pham Hoang Thuy Nguyen, of Binh Thanh District's Natural Resources and Environmental Division, said it had tried several measures to rectify the situation, but nothing had worked.

The residents still do not use public toilets and continue to dump waste into the canals even though they are exempted from waste-dumping fees and receive free rubbish bins from the city.

Tests by the city Department of Science and Technology show that the probability of transmitting parasites in water in seven out of 10 of the canals is at a critical level.

Canals Tham Luong-Ben Cat, Tan Hoa-Lo Gom, Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe and Go Dua have from 300 to 1,000 eggs of parasitic worms per gramme of canal-bed mud, according to the department.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News