VietNamNet Bridge – HCM City’s Saigon River is becoming oxidized and polluted. Annual tests reveal that the river contains oil and doesn’t meet A-level standards but is still the main source of water for the entire city.
According to test results, released by the HCM City Environmental Protection Agency on December 27, oxidization and organic pollution are threatening this river. Measurements show that the Coliform ratio exceeds Vietnamese standards by 17-220 fold.
Scientists warn if pollution continues unchecked it may become a dead river in the future; the City needs to take drastic measures to prevent further pollution.
According to the Institute for Water and Environmental Technology, pollution has dirtied the water by five times since 2005. The volume of NH3 and Coliform has surged in the past three years while manganese rose from 0.09-0.11mg/litre in 2005 to 0.15 to 0.45 mg/l in 2007, well exceeding Vietnamese regulation standards of 0.1 mg/l.
“The city has been and will pay high costs, not only money but social consequences, if this situation continues,” emphasized Lam Minh Triet, Rector of the Institute for Water and Environmental Technology. Triet said pollution is caused by waste water discharged by families and factories.
More worriedly, most reservoirs in HCM City use water from the Saigon River; residents are in just as much harm as the environment.
Bui Thanh Giang, Director of the Tan Hiep Water Plant, confirmed that since 2004, the Saigon River’s water quality has been reducing fast. “My plant will soon be unable to treat toxic substances and clean this water to a level that it can be used,” Giang admitted.
The Saigon Water Supply Corporation plans to invite local and foreign experts to brainstorm how to deal with pollution and restore the utility and beauty of the Saigon River.
(Source: VNE) | 
