Nearly 700 households in a commune in Quang Binh Province have been without access to clean water for years due to alum contamination.
Residents of Phu Ninh and Tan An hamlets of Quang Thanh Commune have had to live with the worst of the contamination. Although, in the past residents of Phu Ninh Hamlet were able to collect some fresh rain water, rainfall has been low recently.
Deep water wells give bad-quality water
Ngo Thi Hong, 57, from Phu Ninh Hamlet, said her family has five members and has to use alum-contaminated water for years. “Even though we’ve dug a well dozens of metres deep, the water we get looks muddy and isn't safe to drink. Now we're forced to buy our water from surrounding areas."
Water unsafe for daily use
Phan Thi Trang is living in the same situation. Sh said that poorer families living there are forced to use the contaminated water even though they are aware of the dangers.
No choice for poor households
Phu Ninh and Tan An Hamlets are home to 681 households, and 80% of them report alum contamination in their wells. The price of buying water from other localities is around VND60,000, which is unaffordable for many families there.
Ngo Thanh Binh, vice chairman of the communal government said, “The Gianh River is the source of the contamination and it runs very close to the residential areas."
Binh said that a safe water system was built in the district but priority is given to some communes in the southern part of the district at the expense of residents in Quang Thanh Commune.
Gianh River blamed for the alum contamination
“We’re encouraging local residents to continue to use rainwater or buy safe water for daily use while waiting for government funding for the construction of a safe water system,” he added.