The Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and the Environment has decided to rescue the lakes in the inner city with the exercise machines which can clean lake water. The Thanh Nhan Lake is situated in the Tuoi Tre (the Youth) Park. However, a lot of Hanoians don’t know there is such a big lake there, because it is out of the way. If entering the park at the official entrance gate, one would see the Cung Xuan Restaurant which hides the Thanh Nhan Lake behind. Thanh Nhan is one of the big lakes of Hanoi, but it looks so small among a series of construction works around. At the “remote” lake, the Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and the Environment would install the exercise machines which can help clean the water. Thanh Nhan Lake in Hai Ba Trung district and Ngoc Khanh in Ba Dinh district would be the first lakes in the city to try the “strange machines.” It is expected that two machines would be installed at each of the two lakes. The exercise & water-cleaning machine are believed to solve two problems at the same time. It allows people to practice physical exercises with it and help clean the lake’s water, thus bringing a green and clean environment. Especially, the machine, which uses the power from the physical exercises, allows saving money in dealing with polluted water, because electricity is not needed to pump lake water for treatment. Nevertheless, analysts still have doubts about the feasibility of the plan on installing the powerful machines. If the machine installation aims to educate people about the awareness of the environment protection, the machines should be installed at the lakes with open space which can attract many people. The analysts believe that the effectiveness of the communication campaign would be lessened if the machines are installed at a remote lake like Thanh Nhan. Meanwhile, two machines at each lake proves to not be enough for local people to practice physical exercises. It would be better to install all the four machines at one lake, which would serve as a springboard for the implementation of the program on installing machines at the other lakes in Hanoi later. According to the Center for Environment and Community Research (CECR) report released in 2010, there were 120 lakes and ponds in six districts in the inner city of Hanoi. Of these, 95 percent were found as contaminated with organic matters, 71 percent found as having the biochemical factors beyond the permitted standards. These included 14 percent heavily contaminated lakes. Like the lakes in many other localities, the lakes in Hanoi have been put under the hard pressure from the urbanization. Domestic and industrial production waste water has been discharged to the lakes, thus making the lakes seriously polluted. In the 1980’s, Hanoians still could swim in some lakes in the inner city. However, no one dares to do this now. The lakes, linking with the rivers, have become black and stink. According to the Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, the daily waste water in the city is about 500,000 cubic meters a day, which drains through the four river systems of To Lich, Lu, Set and Kim Nguu. (vietnamplus.vn Nov 11)
