Many people have itchy, allergic skin.
According to the people of Thach Lien commune, for many years now, they have paid monthly to use clean water provided by the Bac Thach Ha cluster water plant located in the commune.
Bac Thach Ha cluster clean water plant
Since its operation in late 2016, this clean water plant has been taking raw water from the Gia River (in Thach Lien commune) for treatment, then selling it to people for use.
However, since the beginning of May, many households living near the clean water plant have discovered that the water in the Gia River is seriously polluted and smells foul. Not only that, on hot days, people have also discovered fish in the water plant's settling tank floating dead and rotting with white bellies.
Ms. Vuong Thi Loc (66 years old, residing in Nguyen village, Thach Lien commune) said that although the Gia River water is seriously polluted, the clean water factory still pumps river water in for treatment. When using, although the water does not have a fishy smell or is cloudy, many people suffer from itching and skin allergies.
"The water of the Gia River used to be very clean, but in recent years it has been "poisoned". The reason is that on both sides of the river upstream there are rice fields of people and residential areas. Water from the fields and wastewater from people's daily activities are poured into the river, making the river increasingly polluted. Therefore, the factory that takes water from the contaminated Gia River for treatment is not hygienic; people cannot feel secure when using it," Ms. Loc worried.
Mr. Nguyen Viet Dung (33 years old) is the representative of the people in Nguyen village who filed a complaint about suspected contamination of clean water to the Bac Thach Ha cluster water plant.
"On May 8, I submitted a request to the clean water plant to check the water quality because people were itchy after using the water and some people even found leeches in the water when they drained the water from the tap to bathe. The situation of people getting itchy when using clean water from the water plant also happened in other villages in the commune such as Tho, Ninh, Khang...
We spend money to buy water from the factory to use, so it must be worth the money. The factory cannot pump dirty water up to treat and sell to people. This is not the first time the water on the Gia River has been polluted. In 2019, the factory stopped supplying clean water to people because the input water was contaminated," Mr. Dung shared.
Stopped taking water from Gia River
According to Thanh Nien 's research, the Bac Thach Ha cluster water plant has a capacity of 3,000 m3 /day and night, managed by the Center for Clean Water and Rural Environmental Sanitation of Ha Tinh province. This plant provides clean water to more than 6,000 households in 5 communes: Thach Lien, Thach Kenh, Phu Viet, Viet Xuyen (Thach Ha district) and Quang Loc commune (Can Loc district, Ha Tinh province).
Faced with the pollution of the Gia River, in 2020, the People's Committee of Ha Tinh province approved a project to replace the raw water supply for the Bac Thach Ha cluster water plant from Trai Tieu lake in My Loc commune (Can Loc district). The project has a total investment of nearly 16 billion VND, was implemented in early 2021 and has been completed to date.
Mr. Nguyen Mau Dai, Deputy Director of the Center for Clean Water and Rural Environmental Sanitation of Ha Tinh province, said that in early May, when the Bac Thach Ha cluster water plant operated the water pipeline system from Trai Tieu lake to the plant to replace water from the Gia river, there was a problem and the unit had to send workers to fix it.
"Because the pipeline had not been repaired at that time, the factory temporarily had to use water from the Gia River to treat and provide clean water to the people. After receiving feedback about people in Thach Lien commune using the factory's water and experiencing itching, we also sent staff to check and clarify the cause. A few days ago, the pipeline repair was completed, we asked the factory to stop taking water from the Gia River," Mr. Dai affirmed.
According to the reporter's investigation, many households reported that the current water quality has improved, and no unusual problems have been detected. However, people are still half happy, half worried, using water while monitoring the water supply situation, and if there are any problems, they will immediately provide feedback to the factory.
"The water quality may be guaranteed, but we are also worried that the problem with the water pipeline system from Trai Tieu Lake to the factory could recur; we hope the factory will consider contingency plans to avoid a repeat of the incident," said a resident of Thach Lien commune.
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