Pollution in the Dong Nai River has almost spiraled out of control as many producers are not aware of environmental protection, more solid waste and untreated wastewater are being dumped into the river, and upstream forests are being chopped down to make room for hydropower plants and mining.
Pollution in the Dong Nai River has almost spiraled out of control as many producers are not aware of environmental protection, more solid waste and untreated wastewater are being dumped into the river, and upstream forests are being chopped down to make room for hydropower plants and mining.
Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Minh Quang, speaking at the fourth meeting last Friday in Binh Duong Province of the Environment Protection Committee of the Dong Nai River Basin, said that the river was playing an important role in driving growth in 11 southern provinces.
However, some 500,000 cubic meters of industrial wastewater from 60 industrial zones is discharged into this river a day in addition to over one million cubic meters of household wastewater, he said.
Pham Huu Vinh, deputy head of the Department of Environmental Crime Control under the Ministry of Public Security, said the 400 environment police officers in 11 southern provinces had detected a range of environmental rule violations in the industrial, urban, export-import, healthcare, and mineral mining sectors.
The Environmental Protection Law has been revised, but it has failed to put violations under control, Vinh added.
For example, in inspections of several textile manufacturers along Tham Luong Canal running through five districts of HCMC, inspectors detected many enterprises setting up perfunctory wastewater treatment systems, or releasing untreated wastewater.
Speaking at the meeting, director Pham Danh of the Binh Duong Department of Natural Resources and Environment said the regulations on environmental infringements should be added to the penal code.
Danh also proposed the environment ministry promptly send the Government a list of sectors in which investment should be restricted in the Dong Nai River basin,in order to help protect the water source for 15 million residents in the basin stretching 11 cities and provinces – HCMC, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, Binh Thuan, Lam Dong, Long An, Dak Nong, Ninh Thuan and Ba Ria-Vung Tau.
(Source: SGT)
