Over 80% of Sewage Dumped into Vietnam Longest River Untreated

Only 16% of the wastewater discharged into the Dong Nai river, the longest to run exclusively within Vietnam, is treated, said a leader of the Vietnam Water and Environment JS Co. The river runs through 11 localities that daily discharge a total of 2.5 million cubic meters of wastewater into the river, but only 400,000 cubic meters of which are treated in accordance with current regulations on wastewater treatment, Mr. Tuan said. Mr. Tuan released the figures at the 8th meeting of the Dong Nai River Basin Environment Protection Committee held in Ho Chi Minh City on Dec 22. Dong Nai River basin covers about 47,000 square kilometers in HCM City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Long An, Tay Ninh, Lam Dong, Dak Nong, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan and Dak Lak. Among the localities, only Ninh Thuan obtains a wastewater treatment rate of 75% while the remaining localities either have much lower rates (such as Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong) or have yet to collect wastewater for treatment (such as Long An, Dak Nong, and Binh Thuan). According to a decision issued by the prime minister in 2007, the proportion of urban wastewater to be treated in each locality within the Dong Nai River basin must reach 60% in the 2011-2015 period. The PM has recently approved a plan to build 51 major wastewater treatment plants in Dong Nai river basin with an aim to reduce pollution in local waterways. Under the plan, facilities will be built in HCM City and other localities in the basin area with a combined treatment capacity of 2.5 million cubic meters per day by 2020. Total capacity will be increased to 4.2 million cubic meters per day by 2030. More than VND99 trillion ($4.7 billion) will be needed for construction of drainage systems and waste water treatment facilities by 2020 and over VND69 trillion ($3.3 billion) in 2020 -2030 period, which will be funded by the state budget, official development assistance loans and other sources. (Tuoi Tre – Youth Dec 25)