Contaminated water in Quảng Trị makes villagers ill

QUẢNG TRỊ — The central Quảng Trị Province will lay a new water pipeline swiftly so that Vân Hòa villagers stop consuming metal-contaminated underground water, which is suspectedly making them ill.

Currently, residents of Vân Hòa Village in Triệu Hòa Commune use underground well water, where the iron content exceeds 18 times the permitted limit as per the daily water standard set by the health ministry, a report by the local Department of Natural Resources and Environment states.

For decades now, the 420 households, or 2,000 villagers, have been drinking this well water.

In the past 10 years, 41 locals, or 0.2 per cent of the villagers, have died of cancer, which is slightly higher than the national common percentage of 0.11 determined by the health ministry, the environment department report said.

Trương Thị Thỉ, 71, said water from the local wells frequently cause itchy skin and stomach problems.

Only two per cent of the villagers have access to a better water source for daily use; the remaining residents dig wells that are 12 to 35m deep and use that water for drinking and cooking.

The environment department has requested local authorities to either replace the water source or filter water from local wells before use.

Nguyễn Cường, chairman of Triệu Hòa Commune, said that in the short term, they are deploying staff to teach locals to filter the well water. The province’s People’s Committee has promised to lay a new pipeline that will supply clean drinking water to the village, he said. — VNS