QUANG NGAI, Vietnam— Nearly 3,000 residents in Pho Thanh Commune of
central Quang Ngai Province have been living with a foul stench and
odorous wastewater leaking from a nearby waste treatment facility in Duc
Pho District.
The site, covering more than 1.3 ha, receives and treats household and solid waste from the district daily.
Pham Thi Long, a local resident living near the site, said the smell, dust and smoke were especially strong on sunny days.
"On rainy days, wastewater from the site seeps into local paddy
fields and residential areas, which leads flies everywhere," she said.
Tran Thi En, who also lives in the area, said she was concerned that
wastewater from the site had polluted the underground water; a vital
water source used by local residents.
Vice chairman of the communal People's Committee, Nguyen Duy Trinh,
said the committee had forwarded numerous complaints by local residents
to the district authority to help resolve the leakage, but nothing had
changed.
Trinh said waste at the plant was being dried and burnt, explaining
that it was not the waste treatment process that had been designed for
the facility, which stipulated waste be sprayed with chemicals first
before incineration.
A tank would need to be built to collect the wastewater, while waste
would need to be treated in accordance with designated plans, he said.
Chairman of the district People's Committee, Le Van Mui, affirmed the
need for the tank, saying the district would deploy the necessary funds
to build it. Waste would also be treated in accordance with initial
plans in the near future.
In the long term, the district has planned to build a waste treatment
site, covering about 10 ha and worth VND35 billion (US$1.6 million) to
tackle the problem.
Funds to build the waste treatment site had been mobilised, he said.
Source: VNS
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