VietNamNet Bridge - Canals in Ho Chi Minh City are dying because each day they have to suffer hundreds of tons of garbage discharged from households who live along the canals, ships, fruit shops and passers-by.

There are five main systems of canals inside HCM City, with a total length of 76km, including Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe; Tan Hoa - Lo Gom; Tau Hu – Kenh Doi; Kenh Te - Ben Nghe; Tham Luong - Ben Cat - Vam Thuat.

These canal systems, along the Saigon River (about 38km) play an extremely important role in the city’s drainage.

Except for the Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe canal that is being revived, other canals are dying because of rubbish. Garbage is so much that the water cannot flow, turning them into stagnant ponds, which are smelled and the home to mosquitoes, flies ...

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Linh, from the HCM City Anti-flooding Program, the city has 2,000 km of drainage canals, more than 100,000 manholes and 800 discharge gates. However, this drainage system has been almost disabled because of rubbish. 

Canal pollution is also caused by the encroachment for building and expanding houses, which makes canals be narrowed, reducing the flow and cause flooding.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Environmental Protection Bureau, by the end of July 2012, there are 41 canal sections that were encroached. Some canals were officially "dead" because people leveled them for building houses. 

The urban environment company picks up about 9 - 10 tons of waste from canals each day. The company’s representative--Bui Van Truong, says that many canals are so narrow that workers cannot use machines to collect rubbish or dredge the canals. Some canals are beleaguered by residential areas and become stagnant ponds containing contaminants. 

Though the local authorities ban people from discharging of rubbish to the canal...

The canal on Phan Van Han road, Binh Thanh district, is still covered with garbage. 

Another section of the canal on Phan Van Han road is turned into a stagnant pond.

Although it is fenced, people still rip the fence to dump garbage into the canal running through Bui Huu Nghia Street in Binh Thanh District.

A dead canal in District 8 because it was leveled for house construction. 

Raising chickens on Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe canal, Binh Thanh District.

Fruit trading boats also contribute to water congestion (the photo taken at Tan Thuan Bridge, Te Canal, District 7). 

The Blackwater Canal (Binh Tan District) has black and smelled water. People living near the canal complain because mosquitoes are proliferating here.