Vietnam’s rivers flow into troubled water

Many rivers in the country are choked with contamination and untreated waste from craft villages and industrial production zones.

The Cau, Nhue and Day rivers in the northern areas are seriously polluted, according to a report on the national environment released by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Water in the Cau river which runs through Thai Nguyen City, contains many dangerous pollutants including industrial lubricants.

Waste products dumped in rivers affect natural levels of bacteria and nutrients and biochemical reactions occur. These levels are measured by Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) tests that assess levels of oxygen depletion.

A section of river that runs past Thai Nguyen’s iron steel industrial zone has a concentration of pollutants with BOD and COD levels two to three times higher than recommended limits.

At a lower section of Cau river, the pollution becomes much worse and the BOD and COD concentration is 10 times higher because of waste from craft villages and industrial production zones in other provinces like Bac Giang, Bac Ninh and Hai Duong.

Facing the same situation, water in the Nhue river in Ha Tay is turning black and noxious. And in the Day river at Ha Nam, levels of BOD and COD are well above safety limits.

Rivers in the southern region are also in deep trouble and in a high alert situation.

If the environmental pollution continues like this until 2050, many parts of the Dong Nai river will die, according to the report.

“Along a 10km stretch of the of Dong Nai river, there are no fish or other living creatures,” said Pham Khoi Nguyen, Deputy Minister of Natural Resource and Environment.

In that area, the COD level is three time higher than it should be. It is estimated, that every day 480,000cu.m of untreated waste is pumped out from more than 10,000 enterprises.

In Hanoi, the situation is worse. A big concern for the region’s rivers is that no solutions are on the table.

Future tensions

By 2010, it is forecast in the social-economic development plan put together by the provinces which the Cau river passes through, that levels of BOD will rise by 1.5 times of what they are now, phosphorus and nitrogen levels are also expected to increase by a similar amount.

By 2010, waste in the Dong Nai river will increase by 1.7 times compared with 2007.

River water is also being polluted by people who live in rural areas who use it for washing and other daily activities. That’s why a lot of diseases concerning the intestine, skin and other cancers keep occurring.

Lots of children who live near the river in Hoang Tay, the Nhat Tan Communes, in the Kim Bang District, the northern province of Ha Nam, have worms.

“The water is so badly polluted and people use it for drinking which leads to dangerous diseases like cancer, in addition to skin and digestion problems,” said Tran Hong Ha, Director of Environment Protection Department under the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment.

The polluted rivers not only affect the present generation but also future generations. If the situation continues, fish and other creatures will die in even greater numbers and become extinct causing irreversible damage to Vietnam’s ecological system.

The rivers are crying out for help from local authorities and