Modernization damages the environment
The flour craft village in Hoai Hao Commune in Hoai Nhon district, which specializes in making rice paper – the Binh Dinh’s specialty which has been famous nationwide – now is not quiet as previously, because all the households here now use modern equipments and machines in their production.
Nguyen Tinh, Deputy Chair of the Hoai Hao Commune People’s Committee, said that the modern machines have helped increase the output by five times, thus helping improve the lives of local people. However, Tinh admitted that the environmental pollution has become more serious.
Everyday, nearly 200 flour workshops in Hoai Hao discharge a big volume of sour water arisen after the flour filtration. There is no waste water treatment system in the area, therefore, the discharged sour water lingers and gives out a smell.
According to Nguyen Thanh Hau, Deputy Head of the Natural Resources and the Environment of Hoai Nhon district, everyday, the craft village discharges 6000 cubic meters of untreated waste water.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Viet Cuong, Deputy Head of the Binh Dinh provincial Environment Protection sub-department, has said that the waste water in Hoai Hao Commune contains big concentration of cyanure.
“It is the waste water from flour production in Hoai Hao, which has seriously polluted the underground water and nearby rivers,” Cuong said.
According to the Hoai Nhon District’s authorities, 100 percent of water wells in Tan Thanh 2 hamlet, where 100 rice paper production workshops are located, have become polluted, and the water cannot be used. Some months ago, the authorities had to stop the operation of 192 workshops.
The Bau Da wine village in Nhon Loc Commune of An Nhon district is now also facing the serious environment pollution. The water source in the area serves as the main material for making the Bau Da wine products which have been famous in Vietnam for the last hundreds of years.
However, the water source has become polluted because of the development of pig husbandry in Cu Lam Bac hamlet.
“Our biggest headache is to prevent the underground water in Cu Lam Bac from getting polluted, because this is the very important factor which can make the high quality of Bau Da wine,” he said.
Preserving craft villages and protection environment – how?
Binh Dinh provincial authorities have admitted that have fumbled about looking for the solutions which allow both preserving craft villages and protecting the environment.
Nguyen Tinh, Deputy Chair of Hoai Hao Commune People’s Committee, said that the provincial department of science and technology has many times sent officers to the commune to survey the solutions to the pollution, but no proper solution has been found.
The HCM City University of Technology and the HCM City Environment Institute have suggested a solution, but this still cannot be implemented in a large scale. With the support from Swedish government, a program aiming to ease the pollution in Hoai Hao has been carried out, but only on a trial basis at 10 households.
In fact, households have been trying to upgrade the waste water treatment systems, but this cannot settle the problem to the every root.
“To date, only 80 households in Hoai Hao have been allowed to resume production. Most of the households here lack knowledge to run waste water treatment systems. I think the best solution is gathering all the producers into an industrial complex,” Cuong said.
SG-TT
(MONRE)