HCM CITY — HCM City Urban Environment Company workers spent Tuesday morning collecting dead fish and spreading chemicals to avoid possible pollution on the city’s Nhiêu Lộc – Thị Nghè Canal.

Early Tuesday morning, residents living along the canal reported a mass fish death, particularly part of the canal running through District 3 and Phú Nhuận District.

The residents said that they saw fish come to the water surface to breath since March 30, when the city experienced unusual rain.

Lê Cẩm Lương, an aqualculture expert, said that heavy rain accompanied with strong water flow swept away sewage and scoured the canal bed.

This suddenly altered the fish habitat, and the dense school of fish struggled to adapt.

Lương said that in a month, when the city enters rainy season and the water environment becomes stable, the fish will be able to adapt.

Fish death in Bình Phước

Polluted water caused a mass fish death in Ru Spring in central Bình Phước Province, the province’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment announced on Tuesday.

Head of the department Nguyễn Phú Quới said that they tested samples taken from the spring in Minh Tâm Commune, Hớn Quản District which is about 200m away from the site where the Wusons Ltd Company wheat processing factory discharged waste water into environment.

The test results showed that water contained excessive levers of ammonia, nitrogen, phosphate and biochemical oxygen demand.

“The department has asked relevant agencies to inspect Wusons Company to see if there is any link between the water pollution and the discharge of the company’s waste water,” he said.

From March 23 to March 25, local residents reported about fish deaths in Ru Spring. The spring flows into upper part of Sài Gòn River. — VNS