The water quality in the Thi Vai River in Dong Nai province near Ho Chi
Minh City has improved, allowing fishermen to catch and farm fish and
other species in it.
The river, which flows downstream of the
Dong Nai River, was considered dead just six years ago because of
pollution caused by untreated wastewater discharged by factories.
Tran
Van Tien, a fisherman in Long Thanh district’s Phuoc Thai commune, said
the water used to be black because of the waste, which also caused the
death of fish, shrimp, and other species.
After Taiwanese company
Vedan was found in 2008 to have been directly discharging untreated
waste into the Thi Vai for years, local authorities improved management
of wastewater and the river has improved as a result, he said.
“Fishermen now can catch more fish.”
Phuoc Thai Commune now has 300 households that fish in the river and
raise fish and other creatures with water from the river, according to
the commune Famers Association.
Thousands of households that had
ceased farming of shrimp and other aquatic species along the Thi Vai in
Dong Nai and Ba Ria – Vung Tau provinces and HCM City have now resumed.
In
recent years Dong Nai authorities have taken many measures to improve
treatment of wastewater at industrial parks and residential areas before
it is released into the river.
Tests in 2013 and earlier this
year showed that the river’s water quality is good enough for aquatic
species to live in it. But, admittedly, it is yet to meet certain
criteria.
Nguyen Ngoc Thuong, Deputy Director of the Dong Nai
provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said that
occasionally biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand
(COD) exceed permitted levels, but not often.
Many industrial parks are also located along the Dong Nai River.
Waste
from Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Park, the country’s first, in Bien Hoa city
is a major source of pollution since most companies in the park lack
wastewater treatment facilities.
Dong Nai authorities plan to
convert the 330ha park into a modern urban –commercial – services zone
by 2020, and the factories are set to move out of there.
They
have thrown the book at companies violating environmental regulations
and are setting up large wastewater treatment plants in industrial
parks.
They have also set up many automatic observation stations
on the Dong Nai and Thi Vai including at 18 industrial parks that have
large, efficient waste treatment plants and 19 firms located elsewhere
that generate large quantities of wastewater.
Thuong said the province would soon set up six more such stations on the two rivers.
In
the province, around 500,000cu.m of wastewater is produced every day by
industries and homes, according to the Department of Natural Resources
and Environment.-VNA