Pumping stations idle in thirsty city
HA NOI — A number of water pumping stations in Ha Noi are sitting idle while some areas of the city lack sufficient supplies of clean water for daily use.
At the end of last year, 13 of the city's 104 water supply stations were inoperable, said Ha Noi Centre for Clean Water and Rural Environmental Hygiene deputy director Ly Danh Son.
The stations, built with State and local funds as well as contributions from residents at a cost of about VND6-7 billion (US$280-330,000) each, sit uncompleted, since the municipal government lacks the taxing or budgeting authority to finish them, Son said.
Over budget
Some of the stations went over budget because construction was improperly managed and, by sitting idle, many were now in downgraded condition, including stations in Gia Lam, Chuong My, Dong Anh and My Duc districts.
Tran Ngoc Thuan, a resident of Tu Liem District's Trung Van Commune, lamented that the water supplying station in his village was built in 2000 but he has yet to receive water from it.
"Most households drill wells about 90m deep, but the water still has a lot of dregs," Thuan said.
Trung Van Commune People's Committee vice chairman Nguyen Tung Lam said that the station was only completed in 2009 and was being managed and operated by the Quyet Tien Co-operative. After two months of pilot operation, the station was then closed, he said.
The head of the Quyet Tien Co-operative, Nguyen Thi Len, said that the station's pipe system was made from zinc and buried underground and had become degraded from lack of use. Some parts of main pipeline were also damaged by work on the village's roads, she added.
The co-operative has proposed that district authorities merge the station's pipe system with the Da River system built by the Vinaconex 3 Project and replace all the pipes with polymer pipes.
Son said that the centre would co-operate with districts' People's Committees to re-inspect all inoperative water supplying stations and identify in detailed reasons why they were out of service.
The centre would propose measures to district and municipal People's Committees to complete them, he said. — VNS