Hundreds of households in a village in southern Ben Tre Province are suffering from serious pollution caused by a nearby landfill.
Phu Hung landfill
The Phu Hung landfill covers 52,000 square metres in Phu Thanh Hamlet of Phu Hung Commune and has been receiving waste from Ben Tre City, some districts as well Giao Long and An Hiep industrial parks in the province for some 20 years.
Local residents in Phu Hung Commune of Ben Tre City, as well as Phuoc Thanh and Huu Dinh communes in Chau Thanh District have reported air and water pollution caused by the landfill. They are worried about their children’s health.
Wastewater from the landfill has contaminated local waterways and rice paddies.
Serious pollution
“Wastewater from the landfill pollutes our rice fields and destroys our crops,” said Phan Thanh Hiep, a local man from Phu Hung Commune.
Due to lax management by Ben Tre City’s Urban Works JSC, some local enterprises have dumped chemical waste into the landfill.
Local residents and authorities have called for solutions from the municipal and provincial authorities, but the situation has yet to improve.
Water pollution
Pham van Tong, chairman of the Phu Hung communal People’s Committee, said Ben Tre City’s Urban Works JSC has applied several measures to deal with the pollution, but it has not resolved the problem.
The provincial People’s Committee has proposed a project worth over VND23bn to relocated the landfill and deal with the pollution. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has offered VND11.7bn to deal with the worst of the landfill