On Sunday, dozens of environment workers came to collect the waste that had been dumped into the lake.
According to the West Lake management board, the water level on the lake has sharply decreased over the past month, revealing lots of rubbish in the lake bed.
"A large amount of waste including used altars, incense bowls, and worship statues, have been dumped into the lake by local people," the board said.
Workers collected thousands of incense bowls, and worship statues at the section bordering the Tran Quoc Pagoda near Thanh Nien Street.
Speaking to local media, Nguyen Hung Quoc, deputy head of the West Lake Management Board, said that the clearance work will be carried out on the area of some 17 km long around the lake until January 3, 2025.
"Local people usually dump used worship objects into rivers and lakes, believing their ancestors would feel settled," the official said. "But this has badly polluted the environment and seriously affected the scenery here so we're working with local authorities to raise people's awareness on the issue to prevent such activities in the future."
