HCM City has set a goal of providing clean water to all households in its rural districts by 2015.
The city has nearly 100,000 kilometres of rivers and canals, but most of them are polluted and affected by saline water, according to Nguyen Thanh Nam, head of the city’s Clean Water and Environmental Hygiene Centre’s Technology Division.
The city’s two major rivers, Dong Nai and Sai Gon, which supply water for the city, do not run through all outlying areas.
The only way to have clean water in outlying areas is to drill bore wells at a depth of 230-350 metres and then treat the water before supplying it to residents, Nam said.
The centre is planning to build new water supply stations in Binh Chanh District and upgrade existing ones in Binh Chanh, Nha Be and Hoc Mon districts between now and the end of 2012.
The centre has 121 water supply stations, providing clean water for about 62,000 households in the outlying districts of Cu Chi, Hoc Mon, Binh Chanh, Nha Be and Can Gio.
The Sai Gon Water Supply Corporation (Sawaco) has also improved major projects for building water pipes to solve water shortages in areas at the end of water pipes.
A project to transport clean water from District 7 and Nha Be District to Can Gio District has been built. Can Gio cannot drill bore wells because of its geological structure. In April, the project’s first phase was completed and provides 6,000cu.m of water a day for Long Hoa and Binh Khanh communes and Can Thanh Town.
The project’s second phase with a capacity of 39,000 cu.m a day will operate next month.
Hygienic toilets
The city has also targeted that all people in rural areas use hygienic toilets by 2015.
Up to 80 per cent of livestock breeding households would also have biogas cellars by them.
Le Hong Hoanh, deputy director of the city Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the city had offered financial support for residents in outlying areas to build or renovate 27,000 toilets that meet hygiene standards.
The city has also helped 2,100 livestock breeding households build biogas cellars for treating animal waste.
The Ha Noi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has proposed that the municipal authorities support construction of water treatment projects to provide safe water for around 40,000 households in the suburbs of the city during the 2011-15 period.
The plan targets poor households and those living in polluted areas.
