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Scarce supply: All ethnic minority villages in Ya Xier Commune in the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) Province of Kon Tum now have access to clean water. — VNA/VNS Photo Trong Duc

Rural population cries out for clean water and environment

HCM CITY — The country’s rural areas are suffering from a serious deterioration in the quality of the local water supply and environment, according to a leading environmental scientist.

Dr. Le Van Can, responsible for the National Rural Clean Water and Environmental Sanitation Programme, said nearly 50 per cent of people in rural Viet Nam have insufficient access to clean water, with 63 per cent of rural families having either no toilet or inadequate sanitation facilities.

He cited the Cuu Long (Mekong) River Delta as an example. Although families in the region have more access to clean water than elsewhere in the country, 46 per cent of the population are still living in sub-standard conditions, with toilets and other polluting sources discharging directly into the river, he said.

Many people in the region are suffering from subsequent diseases.

Natural water resources in many of the country’s rural areas have already been heavily polluted, with rivers, ponds and lakes damaged by chemicals and human waste used by farmers as fertilisers.

Underground water sources are also under threat from over-exploitation and pollution.

Water pollution is most serious in farming villages, where waste is being pumped directly into the water supply.

To try and rectify the problems, the Government launched the Rural Clean Water and Environmental Sanitation Programme in 1999. Since it began, the programme has helped commission 520,000 water supply projects, but these are only capable of providing clean water for 30 million people, just half the rural population.

So the other half still has to use polluted water.

Can attributed the ineffectiveness of the project to a lack of concern from local authorities.

Many don’t see the building of clean water supplies as a real concern and only invest very small sums in the projects, he said.

Others believe it should be the responsibility of the central Government to bail out the local communities.

Some regions have attempted to build clean water facilities, but have been thwarted by bad management.

Can said the rural ongoing programme aims to provide an additional three million people with clean water each year until 2005.

To achieve this, he believes regional authorities should stimulate the local economy to participate in the development and management of clean water supplies.

Can also suggested that rural areas should introduce laws to protect their water supplies and prosecute people who pollute them. — VNS