Vietnam - Hanoi suburbs face Tet water shortages

The Hanoitimes - The Hanoi Water Company will not be able to ensure all suburban households have running tap water during the Tet (lunar New Year), according to the company's director Nguyen Nhu Hai.

A lack of capital to complete work o­n upgrading and connecting water supply networks had been blamed o­n disruptions to tap water supplies in the district of Me Linh and suburbs in western Hanoi, said Hai.

According to a survey recently carried out by the company, some residents in Tien Phong Commune, Me Linh District, have to use substandard underground water polluted by the waste-water system from nearby Quang Minh Industrial Park.

Statistics taken by the company showed that 6,662 of 18,351 underground water samples in 174 communes of 12 city districts did not meet hygiene standards.

Luu Thi Thinh, a resident of Tien Phong Commune, said local people had to buy bottled water to drink and for cooking. However, not every household could afford it.

The Hanoi People's Committee has invested in building water supply systems for localities near Quang Minh Industrial Park. But water supply systems were o­nly completed in the two townships of Quang Minh and Chi Dong.

Authorities said completing an underground water supply system for households in Tien Phong Commune was difficult as the commune was near a railway line.

This year, the company had invested in connecting water supplies to an additional 50,000 suburban households, equal to 26 per cent of the region's population, Hai said.

Meanwhile, all inner-city households would be provided with enough tap water during the Tet in Hanoi.To ensure this, the company had produced 629,000 cu.m of tap water daily instead of 556,000cu.m as in the past, he said.

However, some households in Dong Da and Cau Giay districts are at risk of having their tap water supplies disrupted during Tet.To resolve the problem, the company is also running nine vehicles with large water tanks to ensure water supplies to affected households between 8am and 9pm daily during the holidays.

KTDT

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