Mr. Tran Quang Ngoc, Cuu Vinh Dinh river hamlet, Don Que village, Vinh Dinh commune, next to the water tank used daily by his family - Photo: DV
My Thuy is one of the communes where most households still do not have clean water to use. All daily activities and drinking rely almost entirely on water from wells, pumped wells, drilled wells, rainwater... which is then roughly filtered through cement tanks and small filter systems that families must equip themselves to use.
Pointing to a 500-liter stainless steel tank placed on the ceiling to hold water pumped from a well for filtering, Ms. Doan Thi Thu Loc in Dong Duong village, My Thuy commune, worriedly mentioned the issue of domestic water. According to Ms. Loc, her family has lived in the area since 1975, but until now there has been no source of clean, hygienic water to use.
"All of my family's water sources are mainly from well water, rainwater stored and then filtered. As you can see, the tank walls are covered with red alum, and the bottom is full of dirty residue. Even though I clean it regularly, after a few days the alum sticks back. Worried about illness, my family now mainly uses this water for bathing and washing," said Ms. Loc.
For daily use, each month her family spends money to buy 15-20 20-liter bottles of filtered water (VND8,000-10,000/bottle). For a farming family like Mrs. Loc's, spending hundreds of thousands of VND to buy drinking water every month is really difficult.
Mr. Phan Van Quang, a delegate of the People's Council of Hai Duong commune (old) said that the whole commune has thousands of household sharing the same situation of lacking clean water, of which Dong Duong village alone has about more than 200 household. "In the meetings with voters of the province and district in the locality, every year our delegates and the people make recommendations on the issue of lacking clean water. But so far there have been no results. We hope that the competent authorities will pay attention and consider this very legitimate wish of the people," said Mr. Quang.
Ms. Ho Thi Chat, Cuu Vinh Dinh river hamlet, Don Que village, Vinh Dinh commune, has been using alum-contaminated water for many years - Photo: DV
In the neighboring Vinh Dinh commune, the serious lack of clean water also occurs in Don Que and Kim Long villages (about 500 households). In particular, the Cuu Vinh Dinh and Tan Vinh Dinh river hamlets of Don Que village are the villages with the most urgent and severe lack of clean water.
Head of Don Que village, Ho Nhu Nui, said that the village currently has nearly 330 household items, but over 250 household items are seriously lacking clean water, while the rest only use hygienic water. FollowingMr. Nui, we went to the family of Mrs. Ho Thi Chat (73 years old), who lives right in front of the Cuu Vinh Dinh river branch. Mrs. Chat suffers from a serious illness, her face is full of wrinkles and lacks the vitality of a sick person. In less than a minute, the tea washing water pumped from the well turned purple-black, with very worrying foam.
"If you want to test the alum content of water, you can use tea. The water here is heavily contaminated with alum. My family also built a cement tank to filter it through many layers, then filtered it again with a small filter installed in the house, but it didn't work. My family is poor and doesn't have money to buy filtered water, so we have to use this water source," Mrs. Chat said worriedly, pointing to the bucket of newly pumped water with alum scum.
People in Dong Duong village, My Thuy commune spend money every month to buy 15 - 20 bottles of filtered water for drinking and eating - Photo: DV
Not far away, Mr. Tran Quang Ngoc (46 years old) and his wife Vo Thi Nguyet were also busy preparing lunch for their family. Mr. Ngoc said that before, his family spent money to buy about 20 bottles of filtered water every month for drinking and eating. However, to reduce costs and be proactive in their daily life, in 2021, he and his wife invested in building a 5 cubic meter cement tank with a multi-layer filter design including sand, gravel, and coal. The filtered water in the tank is filtered again in a filter placed in the house before being used for eating and drinking. However, every 1-2 months, Mr. Ngoc has to change 3 filter cartridges at a cost of 150 - 180 thousand VND because there is too much dirt.
Mr. Ngoc said: “Building a filter tank is as expensive as buying bottled water, but it is more proactive and less time-consuming.” Mr. Ngoc and his wife said that most of the people in the village are very worried and confused because serious illnesses are appearing more and more. "Even our parents are suffering from rectal cancer. In this village, there are many people with cancer. Last year, there were 2 people in the village who had esophageal cancer and lung cancer and died just a few months after being diagnosed. We think that the main reason for the increasing number of serious illnesses in the village is due to using polluted water for a long time. We are very worried but what can we do?" Mr. Ngoc shared.
Village chief Ho Nhu Nui added that because the Cuu Vinh Dinh River branch that passes through the village is located downstream and is only about 3 meters wide, there is a lot of water fern, garbage, rotten animal carcasses, and pesticide containers that accumulate after each rainy and stormy season. Mr. Nui said: "After epidemics, there is often a situation where dead sow are released and stuck in the Cuu Vinh Dinh River. We have had to ask the medical team many times to come down and coordinate in fighting the epidemic to limit environmental pollution."
According to Mr. Nui, in recent years, the rate of people suffering from cancer related to the liver, lungs, stomach, throat, rectum... in the village is very high. Incomplete statistics show that in the past 5 years, there have been about 10 people who have died from cancer, including many young people.
Mr. Nui said that in meetings with voters at all levels, people have repeatedly expressed their confusion and concerns about their health if they continue to use polluted water sources.
On behalf of the local people, Mr. Nui proposed: “We hope that the higher levels and sectors will soon pay attention and meet the urgent need for clean water of the people. To suit the locality, according to the wishes of the people, it is necessary to invest in building a water pipeline system to the villages and hamlets to ensure sustainable and long-term use. The people are very eager and ready to contribute more resources to bring clean water to their homes.”
German Vietnamese
Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/nhieu-lang-que-moi-mon-cho-nuoc-sach-195548.htm
Comment (0)