A small village in central Quang Binh Province is coping with serious health problems due to a contaminated water supply.
One family saw six members suffer from kidney failure, three of whom died. This has raised the fear of residents to use their water.
A family’s misfortune
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| Misfortune for Mr Thuan\'s family |
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| Thuy\'s fourth child has no choice but to stay alone at the hospital, using two benches to sleep on |
In 2000, Mr Luu Duc Thuan, of Quyet Thang Village, Thanh Trach Commune, dug a well. They noticed no problems until one of his children, Luu Duc Thuy, suddenly began suffering from severe and continuous pain, eventually going blind.
Duc Thuy, then a student at Danang University, was taken to Viet Duc Hospital in Hanoi, where doctors told him he was in the final stages of kidney failure, as a result of heavy metal poisoning. He died a short time later.
Not long after, another one of Mr. Thuan’s children, Luu Thi Nhu Huyen, began experiencing similar symptoms. She was diagnosed with the same disease. Doctors advised Mr.Thuan to bring his entire family in for a check-up. All of the children were diagnosed with severe kidney damage, and were hospitalised in several different locations.
Eventually they moved to Hue and the family checked into the Central Hospital. Mr. Thuan was forced to take many jobs in order to earn money for his children’s treatment. The family was forced to sell their house and all their possessions. Thuan’s wife, Tran Thi Nuong, collected rubbish to help make ends meet. Despite these efforts, their second child, Huyen, died. By the end of 2009, a third child followed.
Saturated with metals
After hearing news of Mr Thuan’s family, the provincial Preventive Health Centre sent people to Quyet Thang Village to check the ground water. They found that the amount of metal content in the family’s well was 150 times the standard levels.
When the people of the village heard about these results, they naturally grew concerned. They wondered about other locals who had died in the past from similar diseases. Although they had never considered the cause of such incidents, speculation grew about whether the water might be to blame.
According to local officials, up to 71 village residents had died of cancer, most related to the kidney and liver. All of them used well water. Meanwhile, there were dozens of other cases of people living with life-threatening diseases.
Nguyen Van Son, a 47-year old resident shared, “Many families have moved away for fear of health problems. We do not have money, so we must stay here.”
Mr. Thuan and other young men of the village were forced to search for a safe water source. They started collecting drinking water from a stream nearly 5km from the village. They have also sought out for donations from benefactors, but so far nobody has helped. Eventually they dug a new well, located about 3km away, but it cannot meet the needs of the entire village. When this well dries up, residents may have to walk as far as 10km for clean water.
Phan Van Gon, Chairman of Bo Trach District People’s Committee said, “We have not yet come to an official conclusion about the toxicity of the water. It is possible that contamination is due to chemicals that were dropped during wartime. The district will investigate the cause of suspicious deaths in the commune. We are speeding up a clean water project at a cost of VND17 billion (USD850,000), and will offer support to Mr. Thuan’s family.”