VietNamNet Bridge – The latest report of the General Directorate of Environment has pointed out that transport causes 60-70 percent of the pollution in urban areas and this is one of the most influencing factors to the air quality in the areas.

Big urban areas in Vietnam, including Hanoi, HCM City and Can Tho, which have been witnessing the rapid economic growth over the last few years, now face the serious environment pollution.

Smoke and dust attack urbanites

The report showed that the air pollution in Hanoi has exceeded the allowed threshold by 1.5-3 times, mostly because of the increase in the dust and smoke concentration. At the construction sites and on the roads where trucks carrying building materials pass by, the dust concentration in the air has been measured at 7-10 times higher than the allowed level.

HCM City is believed to be one of the most polluted cities in Asia. No sign of improvement has been seen over the last many years. Scientists have warned about the existence of lead in the air with the concentration hovering around 0.22-0.38 grams per cubic meter, which is a very toxic substance to people’s health.

The measurement at the 6 monitoring stations in HCM City showed that the CO concentration is still within the safety line, but the CO2 concentration on Dinh Tien Hoang – Dien Bien Phu roads and An Suong area, and the dust concentration at all the 6 points all were higher than the allowed levels.

The dust concentration in the whole year 2012 was between 0.35 and 0.75 mg per cubic meter, higher than the allowed level of 0.3 mg per cubic meter. An Suong and Tan Thuan were found as the areas with the highest dust concentration.

Also in HCM City, the WQI, the index that shows the water quality, reported by the 22 monitoring stations on the Saigon-Dong Nai river system, showed that the water cannot meet the standards for domestic use. The WQI reported by the 10 monitoring stations on the other 5 canal systems also showed the serious pollution of the water.

Noise pollution getting more serious

Dr. Pham Ngoc Dang, Deputy Chair of the Association for the Nature and Environment Protection, said that noise is the most worrying kind of pollution.

Also according to Dang, the allowed noise level is about 50 dB at the residential quarters far from noisy streets, 70-80 dB in commercial areas and 55-70 dB at offices. However, in fact, the noise is much higher than the levels.

In Ninh Kieu district of Can Tho City, fashion shops, mobile phone centers and home appliance centers have mushroomed in recent years. The retail centers have been trying to attract customers with the audio equipments which generate tumultuous noise all the day.

Phan Hieu Tam, Acting Chief Inspector of the Can Tho City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said what the competent agencies can do is just ask the shops to adjust the volume of the audio systems. There has been no legal document which stipulates the punishment on the people that cause noise pollution.

The General Directorate of Environment has pointed out that it is the personal vehicles which are the main cause of the noise in urban areas.

While there are a lot of documents relating to the treatment of solid waste, there has been no regulation on the air management and noise pollution treatment.

NLD