The promotion of organic agriculture and strictly limiting the use of fertilisers and pesticides are among important measures needed to protect the Dong Nai River, HCM City officials say, adding these should be taken by all riparian provinces.
The collection and treatment of harmful solid waste should also be given top priority, they add.
A Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) report has cited HCM City officials as saying they can be effective in protecting the Dong Nai River only if they receive full co-operation from 12 upstream provinces in stopping pollution from factories located on the river’s banks.
From now until 2015, the city plans to spend VND56 billion (US$3 million) to control and strictly manage all waste resources that would pollute the river.
It will work to ensure that 100 per cent of the municipal industrial and processing zones, high-tech parks, hospitals and factories have proper wastewater treatment systems.
In the agriculture sector, the application of advanced technology and organic cultivation will be encouraged while strict controls are maintained on fertilizer and pesticide production and use, the paper reported.
“Relevant agencies should closely co-operate with the other 12 Dong Nai river provinces to supervise water quality,” the paper quoted Le Hoang Quan, chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, as saying.
This is indispensable because river protection has to begin in upstream areas. The paper reported that enterprises in upstream provinces like Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Tay Ninh and Dac Lac were still polluting the river.
Several dozen factories in Binh Duong were found releasing untreated wastewater directly into the river while in Dac Lac, the Tan An Industrial Zone has been operating with an incomplete wastewater treatment system.
Environment police have also found many paper mills in Tay Ninh continuing to operate despite local authorities ordering their closure because of pollution, the paper reported.
Ba Bo Canal
The failure of efforts to improve water quality in the Ba Bo Canal is a good example to learn lessons from, the paper reported.
To improve the living environment for local residents in Thu Duc District, authorities decided to build a lake to treat water from the canal. But the lake would be effective only if the neighbouring province of Binh Duong is able to ensure wastewater from the Dong An, Song Than 1 and 2 industrial zones is treated properly before it is discharged into the canal.
The HCM City People’s Committee has worked many times with Binh Duong Province to forge closer co-operation to deal with the water pollution, but not much has been achieved because environmental police have discovered that these industrial zones continue to dump polluted water.
According to the Binh Duong Province’s Science and Technology Department, only 14 of 300 enterprises checked met the needed environmental standards.
So the dream of a “fresh” Ba Bo canal is far away from being realised.
“That HCM City spends a lot of money to protect the Dong Nai River is encouraging, but this will work only if the city receives support from other upstream provinces,” stressed Nguyen Van Phuoc, head of the Environment and Natural Resource Institute.
