Da Nang's ocean Contaminated by Wastewater! Who is to blame?
The noxious tide of black, malodorous wastewater has overflowed Da Nang, and this time it can not be blamed on the rain.
The Da Nang Department of Natural Resources and Environment, alongside the Drainage and Wastewater Treatment Co., have been diligently inspecting estuaries across the city in search of sources of wastewater. During their expeditions they discovered that drainage gates near Ton That Dam Street and Nguyen Tat Thanh Street had water flushed irresponsibly towards the sea.
Along the coastal regions of the Son Tra and Ngu Hanh Son districts, inspectors had also observed wastewater gushing from several drainage gates, including those located within resort areas.
The drainage company has deployed crews to distribute sand and soil at several drainage gates in an effort to forestall wastewater from flooding into the ocean.
Nguyen Thi Duc, the company's deputy director, explained that Da Nang's drainage system was constructed in 2007 and over the two years of Covid-19 contamination had been rendered underused; once tourism activities resumed, hotels and resorts increased activities lead to overflow despite not receiving any rain.
The company has deployed all available pumps at maximum capacity to stem the flow of wastewater into the ocean, but their efforts proved insufficient. As a contingency plan, city authorities have approved the construction of sand dams at drainage gates to absorb water and employing additional machinery to transport it back into sewage systems.
However, in certain locations, wastewater accumulation is simply too much and so resorting to sand dams can exacerbated flow into the ocean. Sand dams is not a sustainable solution as large patches of sand must be transported from one location to another, creating gaping holes throughout.
"The company can only use pumps right now to treat wastewater at the coast, as well as install aeration systems at certain drainage gates with pooled wastewater to minimize the stench,"
In 2019, the Da Nang People's Committee invested in two major wastewater treatment endeavors along Vietnam's coastline, including an enormous environment upgrade project in Son Tra District with a total investment cost of over 1,44 trillion VND ($61.4 million), and another involving drainage infrastructure upgrades costing more than 2.45 trillion VND altogether. Even so, these projects are still under-constructions without a clear timeline.
"Only when the two aforementioned projects go into operation can the problem be solved."
Le Van Dung, Deputy Head of the Urban Committee of Da Nang's People's Council has called for an investigation by the Department of Construction into these allegations.
Source: VNExpress
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