Waste from factories in HCM City pollutes the Dong Nai River. The pollution in Can Giuoc affects the seafood sector in the district. — VNA/VNS Photo Pham Do

Effluents from factories in HCM City are carried along Can Giuoc and Cho Dem rivers and tributaries like the Thay Cai, An Ha and Xang and dumped in districts like Duc Hoa, Ben Luc, Can Giuoc and Can Duc.

Can Giuoc is especially badly polluted by the inky-black waste from the factories.

Formerly, residents of Can Giuoc used to depend on aquaculture and ducks for their livelihood, but the creatures were unable to survive the pollution.

Residents now have to buy clean water for daily use.

The situation is becoming desperate. The province is considering a project to treat 300,000 cubic metres of water a day from Bao Dinh River to supply Tan An Town.

But it is likely to be given up following fears that Tan Huong Industrial Park in Tien Giang Province will discharge its waste in the river.

Manufacturing activities in Long An itself are responsible for some of the pollution, as are urban and agricultural wastes.

The province has 23 industrial parks, but only nine of them have waste treatment systems, all of which fall short of the standards set by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

The main problem is the high cost involved in installing treatment systems.

Provincial authorities have identified 200 firms causing severe pollution and given them six months to clean up their act. Failure to do so will mean penalties, including temporary closure.

Every day industrial parks and factories in Long An Province discharge 400-500 tonnes of solid waste and 50,000-70,000 cubic metres of effluents.

Pollution worsens

Pollution caused by waste from households and fertilisers and insecticides from agriculture has also reached alarming levels.

Most domestic wastes, both solid and liquid, are directly dumped into rivers.

The provincial People's Committee has for many years been calling for educating farmers in reducing the use of fertilisers and insecticides.

Not only has it been in vain, but also the pollution caused by fertilisers and insecticides of water bodies has been worsening day by day.

New measures needed

Nguyen Thanh Nguyen, deputy chairman of the People's Committee, said the province was helpless in keeping out waste from HCM City and provinces like Tay Ninh and Dong Nai.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment needed to step in to tackle the pollution caused in Long An by waste from elsewhere, he said.

For industrial waste generated within its borders, the province is building a 1,700ha plant in Thu Thua District to process solid industrial wastes.

But there has been widespread opposition to it from both officials and local residents.

"What if the huge plant leaks waste into water bodies," Nguyen Van Chau, a local resident, said.

"It will be an environmental disaster for Long An." 

( VNS, 13/1/2011)