Authorities in Vietnam’s southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau have approved a VND714 billion ($36.62 million) plan to curb pollution in the Dong Nai River in the 2010-2020 period. The water is being seriously polluted as it incurs a large volume of untreated industrial and household wastewater, the Vietnam Environment Administration said in a recent report. Head of the administration’s Center for Environment Monitoring Hoang Trung Tung said that up to 1.8 billion cubic meters of industrial and domestic wastewater are being discharged into the river per day, but only 240,000 cubic meters of the figure are properly treated. A recent survey found that 62 of total 97 operational industrial parks (IPs) in the Dong Nai River basin had already built concentrated wastewater treatment systems. He attributed the remaining IPs still lacks wastewater treatment facilities while many other IPs with wastewater treatment systems have not operated their facilities regularly. The river basin is facing rising volume of household wastewater discharged by residential areas along the river, he said, noting that these household wastewater are being discharged into the river without any treatment. The river runs through 11 provinces of Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Lam Dong, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Dong Nai, Long An and Tay Ninh, and HCM City. He also proposed all relevant provincial authorities in the basin to take drastic measures against untreated industrial, household and medical wastewater that are posing a great threat to more than 17 million people in the region. To curb the river pollution, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is collaborating with regional authorities to draft a decree to ban or limit development of some kinds of businesses and industrial production activities that will cause pollution to the river. More than 90% of total volume of wastewater in Vietnam has not yet been treated so far, polluting the environment seriously, experts said. (thesaigontimes.vn Dec 13, Vietnam News Dec 14)
