VietNamNet Bridge – The Dong Nai river system Environment Protection Committee still cannot reach agreement about its operation, while the river is becoming more seriously polluted.

A report presented at the eighth session of the committee held on December 22 showed the serious situation of the Dong Nai river system with increasing levels of COD (chemical oxygen demand), BOD (biochemical oxygen demand), TSS (Turbidity and total suspended solids) year after year.

The report also pointed out that the concentrated waste water treatment systems in industrial zones and the systems of collecting and treating industrial solid waste, domestic and medical waste cannot meet requirements.

Under current regulations, 60 percent of domestic waste water must be collected and treated. However, all of the 11 localities through which the Dong Nai river runs do not treat the waste water.

HCM City reportedly can collect and treat 13 percent of the waste water, Lam Dong six percent, while the other localities zero percent.

Luong Van Ngu, deputy director of the Lam Dong provincial Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, said in the province alone, 500,000 tons of fertilizer and 3,000 tons of plant protection chemicals are used every year, while the chemical residues all go to lakes, rivers and streams.

Ngu said if the problems cannot be settled soon, HCM City, Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces will suffer most from the pollution.

Le Van Tuan, a senior official at the Ministry of Construction (MIC), cited a report as saying that only 15 percent of the domestic waste water and 45 percent of the industrial waste water in the river valley can be treated.

It is expected that the total waste water volume would reach 4.5 million cubic meters per day by 2020 and 7.3 million cubic meters per day by 2030.

Meanwhile, the Dong Nai River Environment Protection Committee, which was set up with relevant parties to help protect the river, still do not have a common voice.

A representative from the Ba Ria – Vung Tau province noted that the effects of the Dong Nai river protection campaigns remain “unclear”. Attributing this to the lack of consensus among the committee’s members, he called on the involved parties to cooperate in a more reasonable way.

Le Thanh Cung, chair of the Binh Duong People’s Committee, chair of the committee in the 2013-2014 term, admitted that the committee still cannot work effectively, even though the members are all high ranking officials, including the leaders of provinces and cities, and deputy ministers of relevant ministries.