Twelve years have elapsed since the PM approved the Cau River protection master plan. However, both Cau and Ngu Huyen Khue are still in a bad situation because of pollution.

Cau is one of the five longest rivers in the North. With a large river basin and special geographical position, Cau bears important significance in the history and socio-economic development of Bac Kan, Thai Nguyen, Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Vinh Phuc, and Hai Duong provinces, Hai Phong and Hanoi. 

However, in the last 10 years, the ecosystem of Cau River has been destroyed, with serious consequences to the lives of millions of people on the river basin.

Nguyen Thanh Du from Co Me Hamlet in Bac Ninh province said that generations of local residents have lived there for hundreds of years. “We often see dead fish drifting on shore, lying on their back on an area of nearly 10 kilometers long,” Du said.

The Cau river sections, which run through Bac Ninh and Bac Giang provinces, suffer from pollution the most because they receive water from Ngu Huyen Khe River.

Tran Thi Thanh from Dap Cau Ward of Bac Ninh city complained that the pollution has upset the lives of locals and that mass fish deaths “can be seen often”.

On the other side of Cau River, the communes of Yen Lu, Nham Son, Thang Cuong, Tu Mai, Dong Phuc of Yen Dung district and Quang Chau commune of Viet Yen district are also in the same situation. The river’s water has changed color and produced a bad odor, while fish die regularly en made.

The Yen Dung district’s environment sub-department on June 13, 2018 confirmed that the Cau river’s water had changed color three times leading to mass fish deaths at least by that moment.

The report of the General Directorate of Environment showed that the pollutant (DO, COD, BOD5, N-NO2 and N-NH4) concentrations in March of 2014, 2015 and 2016 all exceeded the national standard QCVN 08-MT:2015/BTNMT.

Ngu Huyen Khe is a tributary of Duong River, originating from Dong Anh district of Hanoi and flowing into Bac Ninh in Tu Son Town, eventually pouring into Cau River in Hoa Long Commune, Bac Ninh City. 

This is the major source of water supply that serves the irrigation. However, it is the place which receives waste water from Tu Son Town, production workshops and craft villages. 

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