According to recent statistics by the Department of Environmental Police under the Ministry of Public Security, the country has nearly 2,800 craft villages, 90 percent of which have violated the laws on environmental protection and regulations on labour and hygiene safety. Local authorities and people are very worried about pollution levels.
Phu Do village, part of Me Tri commune, in Hanoi’s Tu Liem district is widely known as a supplier of rice noodles to the capital city. However, its production process still falls short of hygiene standards. Not a few facilities are installed near water closets or piggeries. Some producers use their bare hands to put the noodles into baskets placed on wet and dirty floors.
Nguyen Van Thang, a major producer in Phu Do village, says he turns out one tonne of rice noodles a day, and discharges waste water into the Nhue River.
Phu Do village is not the only case in point. The same practice of dumping waste into the rivers is a common occurrence in almost all villages in the north, which make up more than 60 percent of the total craft villages in the country. A recent analysis of wastewater samples collected from such shows pollution levels are much higher than the normal standards. Dust in the air is 113-230- times above the permitted level, the content of some metals in wastewater ten times thicker than the acceptable level.
Pollution levels in the craft village not only seriously affect local residents’ health but also their water resources.
A resident in Thanh Oai district says that local people can no longer bathe and breed shrimp and fish in ponds and lakes as they used to do in the recent past.
Developing craft villages plays an important role in boosting socio-economic development in rural areas, and contributes to the current process of economic restructuring for national industrialisation and modernisation. This is one of the priority tasks laid down by the Party and the Government in their policies concerning agriculture, farmers and rural areas. However, the surrounding has been seriously affected by the spontaneous development of craft villages due to people’s poor awareness of the need for environmental protection.
According to experts, to tackle environmental pollution, and ensure the sustainable development of craft villages, it is necessary to take synchronized measures. Le Van Hop from the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment calls for a greater effort to raise public awareness of environmental protection and the need to use environment-friendly products.
Developing craft villages remains a hot issue. Residents in craft villages need support from relevant agencies for renovating technology, zoning production establishments with wastewater treatment systems put in place.
It seems the country has a long way to go before solving the problem of environmental pollution in craft villages.
Dang Quan - To Nhu