Water pollution mainly occurs in urban areas

ECONOMY-SCIENTIFIC-TECHNOLOGY

07 April 2011 | 09:27:00 PM

At the press conference with the aim to introduce some activities of World Water Day 2011 themed “Water for urban development” in Hanoi on March 10, Deputy Prime Minister of Natural Resources & Environment, Nguyen Thai Lai said that water pollution mainly occurs in urban areas, where a large quantity of waste and sewage are discharged, and a lakes encroachment is critical.

In Vietnam, rapid urbanization has resulted in the scarcity of water, while water source in site is not enough. According to the statistics from Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the percentage of urban population that are not provided with clean water is quite high, approximately 24%; the rate of clean water loss is also high, about 30% on average. In many urban areas, loss level can amount to nearly 40% and even higher, which causes the poor in cities are unable to access to centralized water source and have to use other expensive sources. In addition, due to the usage of insanitary water source, they are threatened by diseases. Meanwhile, the integration of environmental, ecological and natural resources management, especially water resource one to urban planning have not been paid attention to properly.

Rapid urbanization has also led to degradation of groundwater due to drilling, exploration, survey, construction, filling in lakes and the increase in the amount of waste. As a result, water contamination in cities will make a great impact on adjacent rural areas. Groundwater overexploitation is causing land subsidence, and lowering groundwater level. Moreover, urbanization, filling in lakes, and concretization have lead to floods and waterlogging.

Facing the pressure on water source causing by urbanization, the World Water Day 2011 with the theme “Water for urban development” aims to raise awareness of the international community, governments at all levels and communities on the challenges of water resources in the sustainable development of urban areas in the process of industrialization, climate change and disaster prevention. In Vietnam, in order to respond to World Water Day 2011, a national meeting and many activities including workshops, seminars, talks, parades, music performances, hanging banners and other practical activities will be held in the city of Phan Rang- Thap Cham, Ninh Thuan province.

Source in Vietnamese: http://vacne.org.vn/default.aspx?newsid=5398

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