Industrial manufacturers in southern Binh Duong Province continue to discharge untreated waste water into the environment.
Officials worry that Binh Duong Province, which attracted foreign investment in the past, may be slated to suffer from the effects of the untreated waste’s presence in the environment.
On Monday, the province’s environmental police inspected foreign-owned Fotai Viet Nam in Thu Dau Mot township and discovered that the company was releasing waste water into a nearby residential area’s sewage system.
Fotai Viet Nam has been producing packaging material for more than 10 years without using proper water treatment facilities.
The company admitted to the police that its facility pumped more than 60 cubic metres of untreated waste into the environment a day.
The police also found contaminated water being pumped out of Thuan An District’s Dong An 1 Industrial Park even though there is a waste water treatment facility in the area. Contaminated water that had mixed with rain was discovered in the park’s sewage system.
Hang Thang, a furniture manufacturer based in the same district, was busted for discharging untreated water into the locality’s sewage system.
Several foreign enterprises in Viet Huong 1 Industrial Park have been operational for years, but they are not connected to the park’s central waste water treatment system.
Technology Company, which manufactures glue, is one of these companies. The environmental police discovered an underground pipe that the company uses to pump waste water into the public sewage system.
The park requires manufacturers to treat waste water in accordance with standards that must be followed before connecting with the central treatment system.
Seafood Processing and Packaging Company in Ben Cat District has stored waste water in a reservoir to reduce the sludge’s odour before releasing it into Ong Chai Creek through a three kilometre open canal. Up to 60 cubic metres of waste water is discharged a day into the creek.
Violations will be reported to the provincial People’s Committee which will assess the damages and issue corresponding fines, said the police.
It takes several months for fines to be imposed said the police, but violators in the past have been fined up to hundreds of millions of dong.
In Tan Uyen District’s Khanh Binh Commune, which is home to Nam Tan Uyen Industrial Park, residents have grown accustomed to the odour that accompanies the white foaming water that follows a storm.
Black slimy water has also inundated villages in Thuan An District’s An Phu Commune every time it rains for almost a decade. The commune is home to industrial manufacturers that do not possess water treatment facilities.
Production in the district’s Lai Thieu Orchard, which is well know for its variety of tropical fruits, has been in steady decline. Local farmers blame the loss of productivity on the industrial waste that is discharged into local creeks and rivers.
“We have suffered production declines in recent years,” said Tran Kim Phuong, who grows mangosteens in An Thanh.
“I earned only several million dong from the orchard last year,” she said, noting that the trees in her orchards have not sprouted flowers.
The province’s environmental police, which were established two years ago, have discovered industrial violations at most factories it has inspected.
About 50 per cent of manufacturers in the province are located outside industrial parks and do not pay adequate attention to waste water treatment, reported the province’s industrial parks’ management board.
Industrial parks are required by law to have waste water treatment facilities.
