VietNamNet Bridge – Water from the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal has been drawn out to the Sai Gon River to reduce fish deaths, HCM City’s Anti-flood Centre said.

Environment workers taking out dead fishes in Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal.

The centre said waste water from sewage which was discharged into the canal would dry up.

The measure is aimed at reducing pollution in the canal, which was believed to be the reason for the mass fish deaths.

Water will be pumped out until this November, with pumping capacity of 64.000cu.m per hour.

Besides this, the centre and the city’s water drainage company have dredged sewage and waste tanks to reduce polluted water flowing into the canals, especially in the rainy season.

Over the last three years, mass fish deaths have been occurring in the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal at the start of the rainy season. Last year, the quantity of dead fish reached over 70 tonnes.

Recently, mass fish deaths were reported again. The authority has used chemicals to reduce the pollution.

According to experts, another cause for the deaths in the canal was the lack of natural food sources because the number of fish was too high.

The municipal’s Natural Resources and Environment has suggested the canal be used as a water drainage system instead of an environment to raise fish.

The Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal snakes through District 1, District 3, Phu Nhuan, Binh Thanh, and Tan Binh districts.

Once heavily polluted and dubbed a "dead canal" back in the 1950s, it was revitalised following an expensive clean-up project, the first phase of which ended in 2012.

Other major canals in HCM City include Tau Hu–Ben Nghe and Tan Hoa-Lo Gom.

VNS