Hundreds of households on Thuy Khue Street in Hanoi have faced serious pollution from a local canal.

The 3-km Thuy Khue Canal, a branch of the To Lich River, has suffered from serious pollution for many years. It primarily acts as the drainage ditch for the two districts of Tay Ho and Ba Dinh.

A number of local households, including foodstuff processing workshops, directly discharge their rubbish and septic tanks into the canal. Meanwhile, the canal has become narrower due to illegal encroachment of some local households.

Nguyen Thi Ngat, who lives on Thuy Khue Street, said that the canal now looks like an open-air septic tank. Many people who live along the canal have faced respiratory diseases due to the pollution for many years.

Every day, hundreds of students at Chu Van An Primary School are also affected by the polluted canal.

The residents have reported the canal pollution to local authorities for many times, but to date, the project to deal with the situation, started in 2012, has remained largely at a standstill. The project intended to build a system of drains at the canal and a road section over the canal.

Local authorities are also being urged to adopt strict measures to deal with the canal encroachment and the rubbish discharged bh a number of households.

Thuy Khue canal

The serious pollution of Thuy Khue canal

The rubbish of the canal