Waste water from households and forest product facilities are destroying the Ma River in Thanh Hoa Province and threatening the livelihoods of local people.
Waste water discharged into Ma River
There are dozens of forest product facilities along the Ma River but only one or two facilities are legally-recognised companies. According to the locals, despite the fact that small facilities don't have licenses, they have operated and discharged waste into the river for years.
Even bigger, licensed facilities are also discharging waste water into the river. The Duyet Cuong Company was recently fined VND414.2m because its waste water didn't meet the standards.
The discharge pipeline under Highway 15C, belong to Bao Yen Construction Services Tourism Company, dumps waste water directly into Ma Ham Stream. The polluted water then flows into Ma River.
Ma River is heavily polluted
A local said many old people had died because of cancer while children were suffering from sinusitis, gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases. They don't dare to start any fish farms on the river.
In August, tens of tonnes of farmed fish from Ba Thuoc District to Vinh Loc District died. Cam Thuy District saw 41.5 tonnes of dead fish and Vinh Loc District had 13 tonnes.
Trinh Duc Du, head of Quan Hoa District Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said Bao Yen did discharge waste water into the stream. "This company has been fined many times. However, we also have difficulties as their land use right was issued by Hoa Binh Province while the business license was issued by Thanh Hoa Province," he said.
Tens of tonnes of fish died in August
Last year, asides from the VND414.2m fine of Duyet Cuong Company, other fines are small. Bao Yen was fined VND2.5m and Song Ma Co-operative was fined VND7m.
The Ma River is also being destroyed by households waste and pesticide farmers used before planting from the mountainous areas to the delta. Nguyen Van Son, a local in Cam Thuy District, said they couldn't raise farmed fish anymore and there's hardly any agriculture land left. Many people have left home to find jobs in other provinces.
Duong Van Chan, chairman of Cam Ngoc Commune, Cam Thuy District, said, "The farmers haven't been compensated after the mass fish deaths. If this continues, many people will fall into poverty again."
