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Automatic observatories to be built to monitor environment pollution in IPs

VGP – Việt Nam plans to equip automatic observatory systems in industrial parks (IPs) to monitor waste discharge which can cause environment pollution there.

June 09, 2010 9:43 AM GMT+7

In long-term, ecological industrial parks are a sustainable solution but in short-term, automatic observatories should be developed quickly to prevent direct discharge of untreated industrial waste water and toxic solid substances to the environment – Illustration photo

Many serious violation cases have been found and given deserved penalties during the past years but the trend seems to grow more complicated.

Some 70% of waste water untreated

Just 40% of IPs has sewage collection systems and some 70% of 1 million m3 of waste water/day is discharged directly to the environment, according to the latest survey by the General Department of Environment under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE).

Untreated waste water has caused deadly damages to eco-system, agriculture and aqua-culture production,  as well as increased the spread of some diseases.

Solid waste, including toxic substances (20%), discharged from these IPs tends to rise in quantity. In 2010 alone, industrial solid waste is estimated at 4.8 million tons, of which 630,000 tons are deleterious.

Centralized waste collection, transportation, and treatment stations have not been built throughout the country, particularly in the Central region.

Hồ Chí Minh City, the biggest economic hub, still lacks of these kinds of facilities in its IPs, except for Tân Thuận, Linh Trung 1-2 and Tân Bình processing zones.

Profits gained from the IPs nationwide will not compensate for environmental damages caused by their untreated waste if strong measures are not timely adopted, said the MONRE.

Automatic observatories to be set up

In long-term, one of the feasible solutions is to form ecological IPs though they are still new in Việt Nam.

The first park of this kind, named Bourbon An Hòa, was built in the southern province of Tây Ninh in October last year. A joint waste water treatment factory is about to be constructed there with the total capacity of 40,000 m3/s. Treated water thereof will run to a canal within the park for raising micro-organisms.

In short-term, waste water treatment facilities in IPs should be equipped with automatic observatories to supervise the quality of discharged water. The southern industrial province of Bình Dương will take the lead in piloting this program.

Enterprises must also report the volume of their discharged waste water everyday so that competent authorities can compare with data provided by the observatories.

Moreover, hotlines will also be developed for the competent agencies to get information from residents.

Now, Việt Nam has a comprehensive legal framework to deal with enterprises who try to damage the environment. Serious penalties will be given to those violating the environment regulations, confirmed Minister of MONRE Phạm Khôi Nguyên.

By Hải Minh